SXSW: Food of the Dystopia - Beyond Bugs and Beans
I organized and hosted a panel of food scientists and chefs at SXSW 2019 to talk about the future of food.
With Phil Saneski at SXSW.
Climate change, pollution, and overpopulation are making traditional food growth and harvesting difficult. Recent years have introduced meat and dairy alternatives, like lab-grown meat, insect protein, and nut milks, but eventually those will become inaccessible as resources become scarce. You can't farm mealworms without grains to feed them, and you can't get almond milk if the trees can't grow. In the dystopia, food will have to be recycled.
Scraps and sewage will become sustenance. If it sounds gross, that's because it is -- but it doesn't have to be. With the right engineering, wastewater becomes beer, discarded grains become wheat, and human waste becomes nutritional goo. The future may not look promising, but these scientists and food innovators firmly believe we won't starve.
Listen below.