New Culture + Nancy Silverton: The Perfect Pairing

Today’s the day we finally get to share the big news: we’re teaming up with pioneering pizzaiola, baker, chef, and restaurateur - the one and only Nancy Silverton - to launch our cheese! Nancy’s renowned Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles will be the first restaurant in the world to serve New Culture’s animal-free mozzarella, beginning in 2024, with two custom-designed pizzas showcasing our cheese.

This historic announcement represents a critical milestone for the first-ever animal-free dairy mozzarella and New Culture’s groundbreaking efforts in leading the global transition to an animal-free dairy future.

Ours is the first animal-free cheese that has met Nancy’s standards and the first to be offered on the menu at any of her restaurants, which are known for the quality of their cheeses. We’ll also be doing a series of New Culture + Pizzeria Mozza events in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco to celebrate the partnership and offer early access public tastings of the pizzas we designed together.

We wanted to share a little behind-the-scenes take on the partnership and why we’re so excited to have Nancy on board. This partnership is about bringing together cheese and dough, each one crafted in the pursuit of pizza perfection. Get ready - this collaboration is going to change everything.

Where We Started

If you’ve seen Nancy’s episode of the acclaimed Netflix Series, Chef’s Table, you know that Nancy is hard-working. Like, really hard working. (You should stop reading this and go watch the episode now if you haven’t seen it yet!) The relentlessly high standard that she holds for her craft is why her food is so outstanding and why she’s been celebrated time and again as a leader in the pizza, culinary, sustainable dining and baking worlds. It’s also why Pizzeria Mozza is such a pioneering restaurant, receiving nationwide praise for their peerless pies and planet-friendly initiatives.

So when we were pulling together our dream list of extraordinary pizza chefs to work with, Nancy was at the top. Because she’s that good. Her palette is incomparable and she doesn’t compromise. In fact, she’s never served animal-free cheese at any of her restaurants before because there hadn't been one that met her standards. We had an inkling though that ours could pass the test. We wanted the chance to impress the best of the best.

We’d be lying if we said there weren’t some butterflies walking into Pizzeria Mozza with us the first time Nancy tried our cheese. As we suspected, Nancy’s work ethic and high standards were perceptible right away. Yet her determination was matched by her warm, welcoming smile, her inquisitiveness about our cheese, and her enthusiasm for our mission. We felt that warmth from her entire team, too, and immediately knew this was the perfect fit for New Culture: while revolutionizing how cheese is made is also intense work that requires determination to achieve ambitious goals, our approach similarly relies on kindness and teamwork to make it all happen.

The Collaboration Process

While it’s hard to pick, one of the most memorable moments for our team leading up to this announcement was refining recipes for the two pizzas that will be on the Pizzeria Mozza menu and served at our pre-launch events. We knew one recipe had to be a traditional margherita. How better to showcase our animal-free mozzarella than with the archetypal pizza, inspired by the Italian flag itself? The second recipe, though, was up to Nancy and her team. What would they suggest? How would they use New Culture cheese atop an entirely new pizza worthy of the Pizzeria Mozza menu?

The answer: caponata. A Sicilian antipasti bursting with eggplant, capers, onions, and tomatoes, perfectly balancing savory and tart. We were seeing Nancy Silverton in action: tweaking a traditional Italian recipe and turning it into something unexpected and truly special - in this case, on top of a pizza. Matched with New Culture’s animal-free mozzarella, the ingredients Nancy and Executive Chef Herbert prepped were ready to be transformed. The caponata pizza brought our cheese to life in an entirely new way. We couldn’t stop eating it.

We couldn’t be happier with the two custom pizza recipes and couldn’t be prouder that they’re entirely animal-free. The margherita is a classic - delivering the consistent yumminess you’d expect - while the caponata is full of surprise and bold flavor. They are the perfect representation of what Pizzeria Mozza and New Culture bring to the table in this partnership.

Where We’re Headed

Pizzeria Mozza in LA will be the first place in the world where you can try our revolutionary cheese. It’s not only for vegans or lactose intolerants or flexitarians eating healthier or more sustainably. New Culture cheese is for everyone - for everyone to enjoy a piece of the pie. It’s the only choice that brings all of us to the same table, starting at Pizzeria Mozza.

Both Nancy and New Culture whole-heartedly believe in great food. If you offer dishes that are delicious, made with high quality ingredients, diligence and care, everyone will come back for more. Food is such an important part of global cultures and human connection that giving people memorable food experiences has the power to transform society. And that’s our hope. By introducing the world to our first-of-its-kind cheese with an unparalleled chef and restaurant, we will begin to transform society and bring about a more sustainable food future.