Foods From the Lab That We’ll Eat in the Future

What will food look like in the near future? With the world’s population expanding and living longer, but paradoxically more susceptible to diet-related diseases, disorders and even deaths, and with the imperative need to minimise our impact on the environment, there is every indication that we are on the threshold of changing our eating patterns and habits to achieve a global diet that is nutritionally adequate and healthy for all, and sustainable for the planet.

In this context, reducing meat consumption is particularly urgent. In fact, a report by a panel of experts in 2019 set a target of a 75% reduction in meat consumption. Animal meat has always been the main source of protein for a large part of the population, especially in the first world, a reality that has become more acute since the industrial revolution, despite being the opposite of what is desirable for society. Humans need a minimum intake of protein (and the essential amino acids that make it up) of around 50 grams per day. It seems inevitable, therefore, that the great dietary shift of the future will be characterised by the replacement of animal flesh with new foods derived from alternative protein sources and emerging from food technology research laboratories.

But contrary to the predictions of science fiction movies, where eating is a depressing exercise in ingesting pills, shakes or astronaut-like packaged rations, the new foods and preparations promise to be not only healthier and more sustainable, but also as attractive and appealing as today’s—and 100% Instagrammable—thanks to the introduction of 3D printing into the food industry. This is a technology that is closely linked to these new foods and preparations, based on the precise layer-by-layer—and almost “pixel-by-pixel”—arrangement of the various cells and biomolecules that make them up, allowing total control over their nutritional and organoleptic properties, including their appearance, shape and texture.

CULTURED MEAT (FOR HARDCORE CARNIVORES)

The generic recipe for cultured meat starts with a biopsy of an animal to obtain a sample of stem cells. These stem cells are then cultured in a medium with the necessary nutrients in bioreactors, where they multiply and differentiate into various adult cell lines—muscle and fat, but also blood, skeletal and cartilage cells. In the case of muscle cells, they are also exercised to promote fibre formation. Once the cells are ready, they are prepared in the form of biogels. The final stage is to use these biogels to synthesise the desired cut, piece or preparation through 3D printing. As such, cultured meat (also known as lab-grown meat or synthetic meat) is still animal meat, with limited nutritional and health benefits. However, because it is custom-printed, the nutritional content can be significantly adjusted to “minimise the damage”. But the main advantage is that, unlike traditional meat, it is much less harmful to the environment because it requires significantly less water, land and time, as cultured cells mature much faster than animals can grow.

PLANT-BASED MEAT THAT ACTUALLY TASTES LIKE MEAT

These are made from crops that have been genetically modified to be more resistant to pests, drought, high temperatures and intense radiation, and to require less water and nutrients. But also so that their cells contain all the essential amino acids and other compounds that give meat its characteristic flavour and aroma, so that the experience is just as pleasurable, without the need to add additives and flavourings afterwards and turn it into an ultra-processed product (thereby avoiding the two major pitfalls of today’s plant-based substitutes derived from pulses).

MICROBIAL DAIRY AND EGG WHITES

These are synthesised from proteins produced by recombinant or genetically modified strains of bacteria, yeasts and other micro-organisms, into whose genetic material the genes responsible for the production of certain animal proteins—and other biomolecules present in food—such as casein and beta-lactoglobulin (whey protein), egg white ovalbumin or muscle myoglobin have been inserted. For example, the company Perfect Day uses genetically programmed strains of the fungus Trichoderma reesei to produce whey protein to make its vegan dairy products, such as Brave Robot ice cream.

MYCOPROTEIN NUGGETS (AND OTHER FERMENTED FUNGUS MEATY DELIGHTS)

Mushrooms are a great source of protein and fibre. And their filaments, once fermented in reactors under controlled conditions, take on a texture very similar to that of poultry meat. In fact, fungal meat can almost be considered a venerable old food: quorn, a meat substitute made by fermenting the fungus Fusarium venenatum, has been on the British market since the 1980s. And since 2010, The Vegetarian Butcher has been offering the vegetarian “meat of the future” made from mycoproteins.

PASTA ALLA QUADRIDIMENSIONALE 

Arrivederci to fusilli, penne, rigatoni and paccheri and benvenuti to metamorphic or four-dimensional pasta, i.e. pasta whose shape and volume morph when it is hydrated and heated, or even when it comes into contact with some kind of specific reagent that activates and catalyses the reaction. The key lies in the fact that this designer pasta is synthesised with natural biopolymers with memory, so that when they are subjected to certain conditions (temperature, acidity, hydration, etc.) they are activated and assume the pre-designed shape they were given. This characteristic offers the consumer a better organoleptic experience, but it is also desirable because it minimises the volume of packaging—the pasta is initially two-dimensional—reducing the consumption of cardboard and packaging materials and the amount of waste generated.

FANCIFUL AND HEALTHIER CONFECTIONERY

One of the main advantages of 3D printing is that it’s a very precise technology in which the food is built up layer by layer. This makes it possible to create extremely complex shapes and designs with geometries that are impossible—or practically and logistically unfeasible—in a short period of time. For this reason, many experts believe that confectionery will be one of the main beneficiaries of the introduction of this technology into the food industry, and not just in terms of design. Layer-by-layer processing, through the alternating injection of different nutrients and biomolecules, also makes it possible to create healthier sweets, with less fat and sugar but the same taste, by playing with certain properties of their compounds. The best example of this is the recent research that has confirmed that the palatability of chocolate is due to the presence of cocoa butter in the outermost layers. The combination of technology and scientific progress opens up the possibility of creating chocolates with the same mouthfeel but less fat by introducing it only on the surface.