New Culture will be launching its first product – animal-free mozzarella cheese – in collaboration with James Beard Award-winning chef Nancy Silverton. According to the company, it is the first-ever animal-free, dairy mozzarella available to consumers.

Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles will be the first restaurant in the country to serve New Culture's cheese, beginning in 2024. 

For the commercial launch of New Culture's animal-free mozzarella, Silverton and the New Culture team worked hand-in-hand to create two new pizza recipes for the Pizzeria Mozza menu: a traditional margherita and a caponata pizza with eggplant, tomato confit, pickled onions and caperberries. Both recipes pair Silverton's celebrated pizza dough with New Culture's industry-leading mozzarella. Silverton's recipe experimentation and culinary input have been essential to refining and preparing New Culture's first product for market.

 "We always try to accommodate our guests at Pizzeria Mozza, including those with unique dietary preferences. However, we don't always have the right solution," said Silverton. "I've always been of the school of thinking that just because it's a substitute doesn't mean it needs to be anything less than spectacular. When I tried New Culture cheese, I was surprised and excited by the integrity of the product and really felt it lived up to our standards. I am so excited to offer New Culture cheese at Pizzeria Mozza."

 "New Culture's mozzarella is a first-of-its-kind product, and we couldn't be prouder to introduce it with Nancy Silverton, who is an iconic chef, restaurateur, baker and pizzaiola. It's quite literally the perfect pairing," said Matt Gibson, CEO and co-founder of New Culture.

New Culture's mozzarella is made without any animal inputs, making it free from cholesterol, lactose and trace hormones and antibiotics while having the versatility to bake, bubble and brown in wood fired, gas and electric ovens up to 850°. New Culture replaces the essential dairy protein in cheese – called casein – with its own animal-free version that the company produces using precision fermentation.