Food as Software: Place, Protein, and Feeding the World Silicon Valley-Style.

This article examines the role of place-specifically the place of Silicon Valley in California-in the emerging economic geographies of alternative proteins (APs), including cellular and plant-based substitutes. Drawing on original fieldwork data and existing economic geography debates on food, place, and innovation, I develop the concept of to examine the key role Silicon Valley has played in shaping the spatial trajectories and political possibilities of the AP sector. I first illustrate the power of Silicon Valley's place-myth in (re)producing the importance for AP founders to be in place within the region, in part to access its renowned industrial resources but also to provide a protective niche of credibility and credulity for these nascent ventures.