Paul Shapiro
Author, food-tech CEO, and podcaster working to build a kinder, more sustainable food system.
BMC IngredientsCEO · Growing mycelium to sustainably feed the world
The Trial of HumanityAuthor · debut novel, out Feb. 16, 2027
Clean MeatAuthor · Washington Post bestseller
Business for Good PodcastHost · conversations with entrepreneurs, investors, journalists, and thought leaders
Spark for Animals FundCo-founder · grants to animal advocates
Paul Shapiro is the author of the forthcoming novel The Trial of Humanity (Compass Rose Publishing, Feb. 16, 2027) and the Washington Post bestseller Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World (published by Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books in 2018, with an updated paperback edition in 2024). He's also the CEO of BMC Ingredients, a five-time TEDx speaker, the host of the Business for Good Podcast, and a long-time leader in food sustainability. He’s been named as a Most Admired CEO by the Sacramento Business Journal.
The company Paul co-founded and runs, BMC Ingredients, uses fermentation to grow all-natural mycelium ingredients that are packed with protein and fiber, creating a far more sustainable and humane method of satisfying our “meat tooth” than raising and slaughtering animals for food.
He's been interviewed by hundreds of news outlets from CNN to StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson as an authority on food and agriculture sustainability. He’s also published hundreds of articles in publications ranging from daily newspapers like the Washington Post to pop-sci publications like Scientific American to magazines like FORTUNE to academic journals.
Shapiro lives in Sacramento, California with his wife Toni Okamoto Shapiro, author and founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, and their very friendly pit bull Eddie. If seeing a cute dog being happy will improve your welfare, you’re invited to follow Eddie on Instagram.
New novel: The Trial of Humanity
Humanity is on trial. The verdict could be extinction.
In the ruins of a former zoo, the animal kingdom has convened a postwar tribunal, and the defendant is humanity itself. Paul’s debut novel is a post-apocalyptic courtroom thriller about reckoning, mercy, and whether a fallen species can learn to live without dominion over the rest of the living world.
Publishing February 16, 2027 by Compass Rose Publishing. Read more and see early praise →
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