5 The future of food
Feeding burgeoning populations means tomorrow’s inevitable processed edibles will need to be tastier
From bugs to 3D printing, Professor Richard Archer looks ahead. Feeding burgeoning populations means tomorrow’s inevitable processed edibles will need to be tastier.
Predicting the future of food technology is not easy. Who could have thought in 2004 that so many kitchens would sport a coffee machine in 2014? The future of food and the technology that makes it are inextricable. In today’s urban world technology maketh the food and the technologies to come next depend on what the consumer wants next.
One thing has become clear about modern consumer trends though — they bifurcate, they split, they contradict. More and more people want convenience; but those same people are spending more time in the weekend at “real” cooking. More people want food that is healthy, high fibre and good for you; but those same people are driving higher sales in gourmet ice-cream, coffee and chocolate.
And trends fool you. More voices are raised against sugary soft drinks, but colas have been in near-terminal decline for a decade. We see coffee and energy drink consumption rising yet the total consumption of caffeine is in decline. We worry about processed foods and long lists of E-numbers but for 10 years new supermarket product listings in the United States have been dominated by lighter this, less that and free of the other.
The industry has pulled huge amounts of salt and sugar out of food but are fearful that consumers will see “low-salt” or “reduced sugar” as meaning “reduced flavour”. But at the same time, the confectionery aisles are getting larger. Our most trusted brands are confectionery brands. Healthy food offerings are there and growing so why do we put so much sugar and fat in our trolleys?
The biggest single driver in the future is population. There will be billions more people on the planet in a generation or two. And they will largely be living in cities, so their food will need to be preserved and transported to them — it will be processed. Animal protein, so inefficient to produce, will be expensive as agricultural land and water get scarce. Places like New Zealand, if we are smart, won’t be selling bulk dairy and meat protein but the means by which others can extend their vegetable proteins. We will sell them nutrition and flavour and binding properties.
I hope that in 25 years’ time we don’t sell just red meat but “New World Meats” in just the way we developed a whole industry around “New World Wines” (wines produced outside the traditional wine-growing areas of Europe and Middle East). It will take a group like today’s winemakers to foment this revolution.
Our New World Meats would have the flavour intensity and textures of French charcuterie, Iberian or Parma ham, Bulgarian salami and German wurst but be lower in sodium and nitrite. It will use new technologies and great “NZ Inc” marketing. New World Meats will be