/menv/ en /menv/2019/10/29/new-food-economy-startup-just-announced-worlds-first-fake-meat-steaks-made-fungi-are-we <span>The New Food Economy: A startup just announced the world’s first fake-meat “steaks” made from fungi. Are we ready?</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2019-10-29T16:41:41-06:00" title="Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 16:41">Tue, 10/29/2019 - 16:41</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/menv/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/tyler-justin-headshot.jpg?h=dcb9d530&amp;itok=XHU-4WOu" width="1200" height="800" alt="Tyler and Justin at Emergy Foods"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/83" hreflang="en">Food Systems</a> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/81" hreflang="en">Nicole Civita</a> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/171" hreflang="en">Sustainable Food Systems</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-row-subrow row"> <div class="ucb-article-text col-lg d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-right col-lg"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script> window.location.href = `https://newfoodeconomy.org/move-over-plant-based-meat-fungi-steaks-are-here/`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 29 Oct 2019 22:41:41 +0000 Anonymous 623 at /menv /menv/2018/12/05/meet-nicole-civita-menvs-sustainable-food-specialization-lead <span>Meet Nicole Civita, MENV’s Sustainable Food Specialization Lead</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-12-05T15:29:05-07:00" title="Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 15:29">Wed, 12/05/2018 - 15:29</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/menv/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/nicole_c-headshot_1.jpg?h=77197843&amp;itok=k2j56oPg" width="1200" height="800" alt="Nicole Civita"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/33"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/83" hreflang="en">Food Systems</a> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/57" hreflang="en">MENV</a> <a href="/menv/taxonomy/term/81" hreflang="en">Nicole Civita</a> </div> <span>Lander Karath</span> <span>,&nbsp;</span> <span>MENV Student Assistant</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p dir="ltr">This fall, the Masters of the Environment Graduate Program welcomed new faculty member Nicole Civita. With a background in law and passion for social justice, Nicole leads MENV’s Sustainable Food Systems specialization in addition to teaching International Food Systems and U.S. Food Policy graduate courses. Read more about Nicole’s background <a href="/menv/people/nicole-civita" rel="nofollow">here</a>. </p><p dir="ltr">MENV staff caught up with Nicole to discuss her journey to MENV, the Sustainable Food Systems specialization, and what future students can expect from the program. &nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Masters of the Environment (MENV) Staff</strong></p><p dir="ltr">Thanks for sitting down with me, especially as we near the end of a busy semester. First, I’d like to get into your background – you were a corporate lawyer before jumping into&nbsp;the food systems realm. How did you get here?</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Nicole Civita</strong></p><p dir="ltr">It is not necessarily a straight path, which is something that I focus on with students. When you’re pursuing professional education, you often think about how to get to the next thing you want to do. Some people have a strong clarity of purpose and vision, and they are able to walk down that road. I was not like that at all.</p><p dir="ltr">I was a lawyer practicing traditional law, but unhappily. I really wanted to find a way to take my skills and angle them so that I could pursue sustainability justice and equity, which wasn’t happening in corporate defense work and advising.</p><p dir="ltr">I came from a family that worked across the food system. My grandparents farmed in Queens, in what is now Forest Hills, New York. That was what they did when they got here to America. My dad’s family is made up of restaurateurs, and he works in a private school food service and overall food service consulting. Given that history, food was always in my space – but I wasn’t interested in it because of that. I became interested in food when I learned how to see it in systems and how food connects to the climate crisis and other environmental problems. I also learned to see it as connected to social justice and equity, income wage inequality, public health, and community well-being. Once I saw that I wanted to figure out how to use my skill set as a lawyer to make a better food syst