# Rebuilding the Protein Stack

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768/rebuilding-the-protein-stack
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768/rebuilding-the-protein-stack.md
Podcast: [Tacos and Tech Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768)
Published: 2026-06-03T17:51:14+00:00
Episode link: https://risingtidepartners.substack.com/p/rebuilding-the-protein-stack
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/194339327/bcdf50f804139d05955d50c521804e5f.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768/episodes/rebuilding-the-protein-stack
Duration seconds: 2338

## Resource

Tony Martens, co-founder of Plantible Foods, joins Neal to walk through the company’s eight-year arc - from a free greenhouse in San Marcos to a commercial-scale rubisco protein facility in West Texas. They get into the science of duckweed and why rubisco is both the most abundant and most bioavailable protein on the planet, the modular “crawl, walk, run” scaling philosophy that kept Plantible from getting buried under capex, and how landing in El Dorado, Texas lifted the surrounding county’s median household income by 62%. Plus: why the Taco Stand in Encinitas remains the most-mentioned spot on the pod. Key Topics * Why our food supply chain hasn’t been updated in 3,000 years * How rubisco from duckweed competes with eggs, dairy, and meat * The “crawl, walk, run” approach to commercial scale-up * Why avian flu volatility is driving bakery and egg-replacement demand * Modular agriculture vs. billion-dollar capex projects * Living on the San Marcos farm in RVs through COVID lockdown * Lifting a West Texas county’s median household income by 62% * Where Plantable products are showing up on shelves today Links & Resources Plantible Foods Connect on LinkedIn Tony Martens Neal Bloom This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/subscribe

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## Transcript

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