After four years as a biomedical engineer specializing in 3D printing of tissue and organs in Barcelona, Giuseppe Scionti had a radical idea for another use for the technology: creating food.

The 33-year-old Italian took one of his creations to the Michelin-starred chef Ferran Adrià—of El Bulli fame—seeking advice about using similar principles to develop plant-based meat. “He told me to go and cook it and come back,” he said, laughing. He’s used the chef as a sounding board since.

In 2018, Scionti launched Novameat, patenting his “microextrusion” technology, in which plant-based ingredients are pushed through holes to form ultra-thin muscle-like fibers.