QUALITALY

AGO. SET. 2017

we will eat in a few years. I must?

New technologies, health and

environmental sustainability

By Anna Muzio

No longer the usual soup. In the

coming years our table will be

populated by hitherto unseen foods

such as insects and exotic algae,

vegetable meats and vegetables

from hydroponic cultures, unknown

tropical plants and dishes with

personalized nutritional profiles

based on our unique and inimitable

macrobiota. The goal? To eat better, to

keep us healthy - the link with food is

now in everyone’s head - keeping the

taste and sociality, but avoiding those

foods that, in a planet of 7.5 billion

people, have become unsustainable for

the environment.

The food in our digitalised and

ethereal era keeps us anchored

to the physicality, to the earth

and to traditions, so dear to our

Italian palates. But using the same

ingredients we used a hundred

years ago, when we were “only” a

population of 1.9 billion, is no longer

possible.

And so, we’ll see more and more

burgers with vegetable meat, vegan

cheeses that dissolve like those of

cow’s milk and vegetarian butchers

and meat-producers. In Sidney there is

a vegan Fish & Chip shop that instead

fries algae instead of fish. There are

also 3D food printers that,

starting from a custom mix of

nutrients, transform them into

notable or bizarre forms. The first to

experiment with new foods are often

the star chefs, those given licence to

propose broths of crickets and ants on

pineapples (such as René Redzepi of

Noma and Alex Atala of DOM) without

being denounced by squeamish

customers. For others it will take a

few more years, but now the road is

mapped out: we see times and ways

that will put new foods on our tables

(and our menus).

LABORATORY MEAT

Farming puts the resources of the

planet to a hard test, it pollutes and

uses large amounts of water. For

this reason, a search has begun for

sustainable meat. Obtained in various

ways; starting from stem cells such as

that of Mark Post, the scientist who in

2013 presented to the world the first

laboratory hamburger created by stem

cells: it cost 325 thousand dollars. Real

meat, sustainable and created without

killing animals. We’re at 10 thousand

dollars today. In five years it could

arrive on the market at a fair price. But

there is also meat obtained from the

plants that reproduces the processes

of animal digestion, in the laboratory,

extracting proteins from vegetables.

The bloodiest “Hamburgers” (which is

in fact beetroot juice) of the American

company beyond Meat by Ethan

Brown, financed by Bill Gates, are

already on sale by Whole Foods. But

there are many hi-tech companies in

Silicon Valley that, sniffing around

the business, have invested in start

ups that work in - and in some cases

already market - synthetic meat, eggs

without egg and cheese without milk,

often created by biochemists who

cooperate with the chefs.

Time-frame: 0/5 years.

THE GREAT PROTEIN CHALLENGE

If meat is no longer sustainable it

will be necessary to find alternative

foods that contain “clean” proteins,

that are good for health and the

planet. At the top of the list there are

algae and especially insects. For the

FAO, which has registered 1,900 for

food use, edible insects are a source

of high-quality proteins, vitamins,

amino acids that could help feed a

planet that in 2050 will have 9 billion

inhabitants. They could arrive in Italy

already next year thanks to the entry

into force from 1 January 2018 of the

EU Legislative decree that opens itself

to so-called “novel Food” (insects but

also synthetic foods, algae and foods

obtained from mineral materials and

nanotechnologies).

“The main obstacle to circulation is

the availability that is still limited,

although insects are already sold in

France, Holland, UK and Belgium -

says Marco Ceriani, founder of the

company Italbugs in Lodi, who left

for Holland in order to breed insects

-. I do not think that we will eat

whole insects, in the west the eastern

model still repels people. But on

the contrary to algae, insects have a

delicate taste; crickets for example

taste of hazelnut and vanilla. They

will be used rather in supplements

and flours. For me Italy will point to

the silkworm because they are part

of the Italian tradition, they are a

beautiful golden yellow colour and

have a delicate taste. At first they

will have a high ranking, in the elite

restaurants, as it was at the beginning

with sushi: but after three, maybe five

years they will spread. Looking at the

new generations: they are accustomed

to ethnic eating, they are curious.”

And meat? More chicken than beef

will be farmed, which is going to

become high range, and a luxury

product.

Time-frame: 1/5 years

SUPERFOODS FROM AROUND

THE WORLD UNITE

According to Coldiretti one Italian out

of four bought a superfood at least

sometime in a year, food to which

are associated healthy properties.

They often have exotic origins, but

the surprise is that, aided by climate

change, today goji berries and finger

lime, avocado and black sapote (a

sort of persimmon that tastes like

cocoa), lucuma and papaya are all

cultivated in southern Italy, sourced

locally. Every year a new superfood is

decreed. After avocado and kale, eyes

are now aimed at moringa oleifera,

a completely edible tropical plant

unique for its content of minerals,

vitamins, antioxidants and proteins.

Generally, the buzzword is healthy

and natural, and this will remain so.

Or, to use an expression by the New

York Times: at the table, the hippies

have won.

Time-frame: now, with new foods on

the horizon

PERSONALISATIONS ON

MACROBIOTA

Colonies of millions of bacteria live

inside us, on the skin, in the lungs

and especially in our intestines:

so-called macrobiota is related to

our health, depending on what we

eat, some say which influences our

character too. It’s a personal and

unique combination like our DNA,