POST-PANDEMIC FOODS: From meat produced in 3D printers to hyperprotein fungi, the future of food will be increasingly linked to technological developments.

By Claude Kramer

The food paradigm with which humanity entered the 21st century is no longer viable. Not the miles that food travels, not food waste, not health scourges such as obesity, diabetes or cardiovascular disorders, caused directly by food and that are related to 70% of deaths in the world. It is not just about replacing animal-based foods, or about environmental pollution: it´s about the possibility of changing the game rules in the world through accessible nutritious food, a democratization (and decentralization) of proteins. Technology will be the matrix of the new paradigm. The future of food includes complex matrix meat produced in 3D printers, hyperprotein mushrooms, mycoprotein and other fermentations, biological engineering and a field yet to be explored in terms of food designed to directly benefit our health.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MB Cooltura
• Release date: Apr 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9789877445992

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From scarcity to abundance

We will, in short, move from a system of scarcity to one of abundance. From a system of extraction to one of creation. This sentence from a RethinkX report seems to summarize the point at which we are situated in relation to food production and consumption: a hinge point in which the livestock and agro-industry model will gradually (or not so much) be replaced by a decentralized, intelligent, more rational and more sustainable model, in which food can be designed based on our health or preferences. If we are already witnessing the substitution of animal proteins for plant-based products, and even for products that are genetically engineered or printed on 3D printers, the near future could have us eating food that will have very little to do with what we´ve consumed so far.

Concerns about food and nourishing are not new. Since the end of the Second World War, in different latitudes attention has been paid to the problems that an exponential population growth would bring about. The crucial question, at the time, seemed to be: Will there be enough food for everyone? In recent decades, other concerns also became important: environmental concerns, health issues and greater awareness about the origin of food and how it was produced. Also, technology is becoming more and more important in every aspect of our lives, so we need to ask how will blockchain, artificial intelligence or biotechnology, for example, modify the food industry. The question, entering the third decade of the XXI century, seems to be: What will we eat in the future?

From meat produced in 3D printers to hyperprotein fungi, the future of food will be increasingly linked to technological developments.