Why Questlove Thinks You Should Be Eating Plant-Based Meat

What doesn’t Questlove do? Between his nightly appearances behind a drum set on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, concerts with The Roots, time producing Broadway shows and records, writing books (he has authored four), recording his podcast, and his occasional gig as a professor at NYU, Questlove, born Ahmir Thompson, has now ventured into the food industry, developing his own signature sandwich. Questlove’s Cheesesteak™ is made with Impossible™ meat, topped with cheese sauce and banana pepper relish, served on an Amoroso’s Italian Roll.

“My team has been working on getting Questlove’s Cheesesteak™ into multiple quick service restaurants and fast casual restaurants, along with even more sports and entertainment venues across the country,” Questlove explained to me of his culinary endeavor. The vegetarian sammie is available at more than forty Live Nation venues, at Citizens Bank Park in Questlove’s hometown of Philadelphia, and, as of last week, at all fresh&co locations around New York City.

What caused the jack-of-all-trades musician, educator and content creator to become

the namesake of a plant-based sandwich? I caught up with Questlove to learn more about his foray into the food world, his role as a food startup investor, and what he predicts for the future of food culture.

Eve Turow-Paul: What inspired the creation of Questlove’s Cheesesteak™?

Questlove: I wanted to provide a plant-based version of a sandwich that I have always enjoyed, and making my quintessential cheesesteak using Impossible meat was the way to do it.

I started to see a shift in consumer demand for plant-based products. People want to eat things that are better for them and better for the planet they’re standing on. Fans of Questlove’s Cheesesteak™ are not only vegetarians. In fact, I would say a majority of people who gravitate to the cheesesteak are meat eaters. They want options. They sense (or, if they do research, they know) that the overall ecosystem around our current meat production will be difficult to sustain. And because eaters want options, restaurants are expanding their menus. It’s a cycle, and a virtuous cycle. So now we have a plant-based product that can go head to head with meat. 

Turow-Paul: You are an investor in Impossible Foods. How did you decide to put your money behind them? 

Questlove: It was honestly incredibly organic. Over the years we have had some guys in The Roots who were vegetarian or vegan, and my manager, Rich, was a vegetarian. I was reasonably familiar with tofu, tempeh, and wheat gluten products, not just as foods but as part of smarter thinking: about the infrastructure around food production and food choices.

About six years ago, my partners and I ran across a short blurb about the Impossible burger in a technology journal. We were stunned. At the time, Impossible’s website was just a photo of a delicious juicy burger, and I had a hard time believing it was plant-based. We all did. We cold-called the company and were lucky enough to convince them to let us taste it. For me, it’s all about the taste test. I am investing in companies that I believe in. The product was impressive, and that kicked off a relationship.

Since then I have made a number of investments in innovative food companies that I believe in. 

Turow-Paul: Only a few years ago, plant-forward eating was associated with hippies and veganism. Today, plant-forward eating is going mainstream. Why do you think this is?  

Questlove: I think there’s been a real important separation between the ideas of plant-based eating and the old, boring idea of “health food.” Companies that make plant-based products are thinking not only of the vegan or vegetarian eater but about the meat eater as well. Seven years ago, veggie burger was a bean burger or a mess of veggies, soy, and a binder. Today, you wouldn’t call the Impossible Burger or the Beyond Burger a veggie burger. You wouldn’t call Questlove’s Cheesesteak™ a “veggie” cheesesteak. The terminology is shifting as a result. The mainstream press and the average diner is coming to call these products “meat-alternative.” They have flavor. They cook like meat, and smell like meat when they’re cooking. When we were in development on Questlove’s Cheesesteak™, we would all come out smelling like we had worked a full shift at [the famed Philly cheesesteak haunt], Dalessandro's.

I was an early adopter back when I cold-called Impossible. The mainstreaming of plant-based foods has been so interesting for me to watch. As more and more people find out about these products, there’s a growing awareness that these plant-based foods aren’t only for niche diners who are pursuing a specific agenda. They’re not for aggressive dieters or radical activists. They’re for everyone, in the sense that they are becoming an important part of the overall food picture. This is a new frontier and people are curious.

Interestingly, that curiosity also produces a certain amount of suspicion. There’s lots of incorrect thinking and propaganda around these ideas. It happens with any new technology. But lots of it is sparked by trolls or by lobbyist groups. There is disruption happening in industries that have been operating in much the same way for many decades. I’m on the side of the fence that believes it’s great to use new ideas to save the planet and the people on it. 

Turow-Paul: A portion of each Questlove’s Cheesesteak™ sale at fresh&co will go to the Food Education Fund at the Food and Finance High School. How did this partnership come about?

Questlove: I’ve been involved with the Food Education Fund for about four years now, and I joined the board last year, and fresh&co also supports them. The Food Education Fund is the foundation that supports the Food and Finance High School, the only culinary high school in New York State.

The school is truly an inspiring place. These kids —predominantly African-American, Latina and Latino from the outer boroughs who come into the city to learn—are being taught not only to cook, but to focus on the impact our current food systems have on the environment, on food access, and on the future of food. They have a greenhouse. They farm tilapia.

Because of all the synergy between me, fresh&co and the school, I thought the best way to initially launch Questlove’s Cheesesteak™ in New York City would be with a partner who shares similar values and tying each cheesesteak sale in with a donation to the Food Education Fund.

Turow-Paul: Your early interest in Impossible and vision for their success was prescient. As a food trend soothsayer, what do you predict will be the next big trend in food?  

Questlove: If I could see the future, I would be out there betting on sports, like Biff from Back to the Future. But I have some strong suspicions. Plant-based, in my mind, isn’t going anywhere, and will continue to expand in meat, dairy, and seafood. The products will become better and better as the long standing meat and dairy companies, as well as startups, compete to provide consumers with the best tasting plant-based alternatives.

And then there lab-grown meat. It’s going to take off. I have seen a few products in their early stages—it’s incredible to see the strides in both meat and seafood. The biggest goal with lab-grown is to reduce the carbon footprint and the damage on the environment. In the same way that large scale beef production is detrimental to the environment, so is shrimp farming, which has huge implications on deforestation and erosion on coastlines.

Decreasing our carbon footprint when it comes to food production is a huge goal. The other goal is finding a way to feed our increasing population that is sustainable; with better for you, better for the planet options that everyone can afford. 

[Food waste is] a huge issue, and something that I’ve thought about for years. Food in the African-American community, soul food, started as a way of responding to food waste: black cooks would use the foods or the parts of foods that weren’t used by white cooks. Today, food waste is one of the most pressing issues we face.

Look. As a species, we have to get our heads around the ways that food technologies and food innovations can help address these incredibly large issues: environmental destruction, food waste, food access, and hunger. We have an obligation to be smart about food, not only because it affects us, but because it affects everyone. The Food and Finance High School is part of it. Chefs taking chances are part of it. Restaurants retooling their operation is part of it. And plant-based alternatives are part of it. Plus, who knows what’s next? There’s so much more that’s out there on the horizon, and I’m excited to get to it.

*This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.