How the Promises and Conflicts of Alternative Proteins Reflect Humanity’s Search for Harmony with Nature

Parasitic Jaeger

13-10-2025

As if recalling something, Zhuangzi says, “This morning I heard the birds in the Bird Village said that the last storm had swept away all the Flowerpeckers’ nests. They have no home now. Do you still want them to finish weaving your burrow’s rain-proof screen?”
Hearing Zhuangzi, Kingfisher sighs and closes his eyes as if meditating. Kingfisher suddenly realizes the wonder of Dao, of wu wei (無為).

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Logan Jeffrey

The global movement toward alternative proteins—ranging from plant-based meat and edible insects to lab-grown milk and eggs—has emerged as a transformative force in how societies imagine the future of food [2,3]. In a recent study, Sexton, Garnett, & Lorimer [4] map the narrative landscape surrounding these innovations, examining both the utopian promises made by advocates and the counter-narratives voiced by conventional livestock producers.

Through interviews and media analysis, the authors identify five recurring promises underpinning the alternative protein movement: (1) healthier bodies, (2) feeding the world, (3) benefits for animals and the environment, (4) control through technology, and (5) the taste of tradition without guilt. Together, these promises portray a vision of cleaner, safer, and more sustainable protein systems. Silicon Valley–based companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and Memphis Meats have framed their innovations as technological fixes capable of rescuing both human health and planetary ecosystems from the inefficiencies and moral burdens of livestock farming [5,6].

Yet, these promissory narratives function as much as marketing and investment tools as they do as ethical appeals. Alternative proteins are consumed “more as narratives than as food” — symbolic of progress and purity rather than merely sustenance.

In response, livestock stakeholders have mounted three counter-narratives: alternative proteins are not a serious threat, not real food, and not legally defined. These reactions expose deeper cultural anxieties over authenticity, nature, and the meaning of food. The study concludes that the conflict between “real” and “fake” foods is not simply economic but ontological—a struggle over what counts as natural and good in human–nature relations.

Viewed through the lens of Nature Quotient (NQ), this study reflects a civilization caught between technological control and ecological humility [7]. While alternative proteins promise efficiency and compassion, they also risk detaching humanity further from the living ecosystems that sustain food cultures. Cultivating NQ would mean reimagining “better food” not as a technical fix, but as a relational practice—one that honors both human nourishment and the rhythms of the Earth [8].

In this light, food innovation becomes a mirror for individual and social peace: peace within oneself through mindful consumption, and peace among communities through equitable, ecologically grounded food systems.

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] Carrington D. (2018). The new food: meet the startups racing to reinvent the meal. www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/30/lab-grown-meat-how-a-bunch-of-geeks-scared-the-meat-industry.

[3] Chu W. (2017). Cultured connoisseurs: Meet the alt-protein pioneers with a steak in the future. www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2017/08/24/Cultured-connoisseurs-Meet-the-alt-protein-pioneers-with-a-steak-in-the-future

[4] Sexton AE, Garnett T, Lorimer J. (2025). Framing the future of food: The contested promises of alternative proteins. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 2(1), 47-72. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619827009

[5] Morozov E. (2013). To save everything, click here: Technology, solutionism and the urge to fix problems that don't exist. Penguin.

[6] Turner F. (2006). From counterculture to cyberculture: Stewart brand, the whole Earth network, and the rise of digital utopianism. University of Chicago Press.

[7] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[8] Nguyen MH, Ho MT, La VP. (2025). On “An” (安): Inner peace through uncertainty, nature quotient, and harmony with Dao. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=NIKMEQAAQBAJ