How we may eat in the future
Many people believe our current approach to food is both irresponsible and unsustainable. An incredible number of animals—at least 50 billion chickens alone— are slaughtered annually. What if we could redesign protein to get the flavor we want, while minimizing environmental impact? Here you see a possible deli case of the future. Some of these items are commercially available today, others maybe in the not-too-distant future.
With shrinking resources and growing populations, interesting and novel ideas about our food consumption need to sustain us beyond just nourishment. Already a family recipe can include cell-cultured seafood, and a sprinkle of “spice” can be 3D printed. We’re on the appetizer course of the future of food as we know it.
This section contains the following objects:
Atoma Spice Molecules
Future Foods
Food Design, Aroma Chemistry, 3D print, originally cocoa butter, adapted to Wax Encapsulation
Description: A series of wax clusters. They are muted tones of red, green, yellow, and blue. Clusters consist of several spheres attached to one another in an organic fashion. Each spice cluster is shaped differently. Some parts of the clusters have a smooth finish and some are textured with bumps.
Molecules . . . Delicious!
Atoma Spice Clusters, by designer Alexandra Genis, are made from pure, synthetic flavor molecules, which can be grated onto food. This is an artificial solution to a natural problem: “Every flavor can be concocted everywhere,” Genis explains, “in any season or climate, eliminating the need for transporting exotic and expensive produce from faraway places.”
Credit: Alexandra Genis
Description: A deli case of various future foods. The future foods look like foods we may be familiar with. Some of the foods include: mahi mahi, bacon, and various packaging. Mahi mahi is chunks of light pink fish. The bacon is pink wavy strips. The strips have wavy dark pink stripes. The packaging varies. One includes cricket snacks.
MyBacon, a kind of mycelium bacon grown from mushrooms, is cured and grilled like its pork predecessor. N.Ovo egg substitutes, from Brazil, are plant-based replacements for baking and cooking. Soylent is a soy-based protein beverage, offering efficient nutrition. Mountain House long-term foods are shelf-stable for decades into the future. FutureFeed is an additive to cattle feed that contains asparagopsis, a seaweed that reduces the animals’ methane emissions by at least 80 percent.