EDIBLE INSECTS
We have long heard that we will find ourselves eating insects in the near future. But beyond storytelling, reality tells otherwise. Also because, as Professor Pete Smith, professor of Plant & Soil Science at the University of Aberdeen, points out: “We don't need it. We can get most of the proteins we need from plant-based foods."
Suggestions aside, the idea of a candlelit dinner sharing a nice plate of larvae seems truly remote.
At the end of 2018, the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF), an association that brings together European producers of insects as food for humans and animals, published a report which reads that insects are only authorized as food for farmed fish and pet food today. However, they are still prohibited for the breeding of poultry or other animals intended for human consumption. The
only green light, for now, has come from the EFSA (European Food Safety Agency), which granted authorization to the dried larvae of Tenebrio molitor, those that are born and feed on yellow flour. "They do not pose a health hazard" is the Agency's ruling. Not exactly the most enticing definition for food products.
3D PRINTED FOOD
Chloé Rutzerveld is a Dutch food designer and "food futurist". Combining design, science and technology, he develops ideas and plans for more efficient, healthy and sustainable food. Among them, 3D printing: "We will move to a completely new food system in which we will build food with microorganisms. Instead of growing crops or raising animals, we will use microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, yeasts and microalgae to directly produce the carbohydrates, proteins and fats we need." Then, we can shape it at will with the printer, without having to give up on flavor: "We can create a library of sensations and mouth textures on a nanometric scale, to recreate sensations such as freshness or juiciness. We will make the food production system much more efficient, saving land and water and energy resources." Meanwhile, it is a traveling exhibition which, however, is based on form and design and much less on flavor.
SCANDINAVIAN WINE
Climate change will not only change our attitude to consumption, but also production. Even when it comes to crops. Specialty crops such as coffee and, above all, grapevines are at serious risk. "A one- or two-degree climate change could spell a breakthrough for some regions that grow specialty crops," said Gregory V. Jones, a climatologist and renowned viticulture expert with the Department of Environmental Studies at Linfield College, Oregon. "Wine regions such as Greece, southern Italy, southern Spain and Portugal are potentially subject to problems," he alerts us. In a more reassuring tone, he adds: "Viticulture will become possible in places like Scandinavia and the north of 'England. They are not world-class producing regions now, but by 2050, if climate change continues, they could become so”.
INEQUALITY AT THE TABLE
As often happens, the poorest will pay the bill. It could also happen with the restaurant bill: "I'm worried about uneven food development," says Professor Corinna Hawkes of the Center for Food Policy at the City, University of London. "The diets of the rich will get better and those of the poorer people will get worse, and we will end up with more frightening inequalities."
Fast food companies will find less and less endorsement in richer countries and will increasingly focus on developing ones. "Places where they already have inadequate diets," Hawkes continues, "and adding junk food to the diet will exacerbate obesity problems." It is estimated that by 2050, 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women will be obese if current global trends are confirmed.