Jessica Schwabach
& Siwen Deng
Co-Founders, Sundial Foods
Made for Everyone
Sundial Foods is developing a novel manufacturing process for plant-based whole cuts of meat. Co-founders Siwen Deng, PhD, and Jessica Schwabach began working on the idea after meeting at UC Berkeley in 2019. The company's first product, now available in select SF eateries, is a clean-label, plant-based chicken wing complete with skin, meat, and bone, delivering a delicious wing-eating experience with none of the downside.
From lab partners to business partners …but always scientists at heart. Sundial’s co-founders bonded over a shared passion for solving global environmental and health issues.
Meet Siwen:
Growing up in a rural agricultural town in China, Siwen has been tackling the challenges of food security and food system stability — especially in the face of unprecedented climate change — from a young age, leading to her passion for plant science and improving food systems. Entering college at age 16, she spent ten years in academia before co-founding Sundial in 2019. She holds a BS in Plant Biology from China Agricultural University, a BS Plant Sciences from Purdue University, and a PhD in Plant and Microbial Biology from UC Berkeley.
Meet Jessica
Jessica Schwabach is the CEO and cofounder of Sundial Foods. She holds a bachelor's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied genetics and was involved in gene therapy research. As a sophomore in college, she co-founded Sundial with a future Dr. Siwen Deng, striving to apply her biology background to disrupting animal-based food systems. At Sundial, the cofounders have developed a novel process for texturizing delicious and planet-friendly whole cuts of plant-based meat.
“We’re making plant-based food more nutritious, sustainable, and affordable.”
The science behind Sundial
If you only think of animals as food on your plate, then they’re just processing machines. The input is water and plant matter, and the output is a more energy dense food — meat.
The problem is, animals need a lot of resources to keep on operating, because they don’t just exist to churn out steaks. They also burn energy running, playing, and living. At the end of the day, only a tiny fraction of the plant energy they ate gets turned into biomass (ie, meat).
This is why large-scale animal agriculture — for instance, a concentrated feeding operation — puts a huge strain on our land, water, and energy resources.
But go back to that initial input — plants and water. Why not go straight to the source and create the meat ourselves, instead of using an animal?
There are over 20,000 known edible species of plants. At Sundial, we’ve found a mix that creates the texture, taste, and macros of animal meat — without any additives, preservatives, or animals. (source: sundial foods.com)
source: sundialfoods.com
Sundial in the Press:
