Eating evolves.
Have you ever looked through a cookbook from 1952? That was 60 years ago, but holy cheese ball they ate things I’d never make now!
Looking at the way I eat today versus the way I ate just 15 years ago astounds me. Can you imagine how differently we will be eating by 2050? Think about extended lifespans, a growing population, and limited resources/farmland.
Gourmet magazine wrote an interesting article titled what “We’ll Be Eating in 2050.”
From rooftop farmers to an English-teacher-turned-entomophagy-advocate (yup – that means eating bugs), Gourmet left no row un-hoed.
There are actually 2 farm styles highlighted:
- Ben Flanner and Annie Novak founded a rooftop farm, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, and oversee the Brooklyn Grange. That grange is a whole acre in Long Island! No, rooftops can’t feed all of Africa… but they might one day feed your condo!
- Back at the conventional ranch, co-director and senior farm policy analyst Mark A. Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute sees us at a crossroads: the industrial, genetic engineering style of growth and the recent trend toward organics, local foods, farmers’ markets, and CSAs.
Side note: what was he thinking posing for this?!
Chefs will also play a role. With the rise of the “celebrity” chef, opinions like Jamie Oliver’s are being heard more and more loudly. Not only to food “activists” like Mr. Oliver influence the way we think about food, they impact our habits.
Think about it: if the only fast-food/restaurant cuisine available was fresh and healthy, that’s how society would be accustomed to eating. As much as I hate the burger trend, it’s nice to at least have a “clean” grass-fed alternative to McDonald’s questionable patties.
Some of our beloved bioengineers are of the opinion that we can just grow meat. Morris Benjaminson, of Zymotech Enterprises, is working on growing meat from cow muscle with his “muscle-protein production system.” Hmmm… that’s a burger I’ll pass on.
Lastly, the one you’ve been waiting for…
Dave Gracer the English-teacher-turned-entomophagy-advocate, probably wouldn’t be the most popular teacher handing out lollipops with larvae embedded and making sandwiches with bread fabricated from cricket flour (is that gluten-free?). Yes, we’ve all hear of chocolate-covered crickets… but somehow I don’t see that delicacy breaking through in the Western world.
Gracer does highlight the fact that insects are high in protein. You guys know how I love my protein…
Gourmet didn’t get any dirt when they contacted Kraft, General Mills, and Frito-Lay to inquire about the existence of departments specializing in futuristic food ideas. Too bad – I want to apply for THAT job! I’d be the inventor of a healthier, squash-version of Tang!
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I do believe we are going to have to make some changes to have a sustainable (and natural) food supply. I’m not sure what that will look like… but I’d like to think the rooftop farmers are on to something.
What do you think about how we’ll eat in 2050?
More importantly, would you ever eat an insect? Even if it was chocolate-covered? 🙂
I don’t think insects fall under my pescetarian diet.
I really support Jamie Oliver’s message, but I don’t know how effective he is.
Happy Friday! 🙂
I’d like to think (HOPE) that Mr. Oliver was being facetious but you never know 😀 I do love his message though I also wonder how effective his methods are.
I’m positive I’m on team rooftop. The hubby and I are already planning a garden for the next place we live in too. I’m excited for some fresh veggies and fruit off the vine. 🙂
It’s amazing how much better fresh-form-the-vine food tastes!
Great post, Laura. Definitely something to think about. I guess I feel that with the decline in natural resources, future food production will probably migrate towards processed. Sad, but consumption rates definitely haven’t fallen. I applaud people like Ben and Annie. Eating insects……let’s just say that scorpions taste better than silkworms and leave it at that, mkay? lol
Definitely food for thought! I’ll pass on the lollipop tho!!
No clue what food will look like in 40 years, but I have had insects (grasshoppers, in Mexico), though unwittingly, and while I have to honestly say they were tasty, the legs and consistency weren’t for me.
Really?! What did they taste like? I imagine the consistency would be a deal-breaker for me too.
They had been roasted crunchy and then made into a ind of spicy breadspread. It was really good,maybe a bit like you might imagine roasted crab mixed with a lot of spice and some oil. It’s just the legs getting stuck between your teeth…
Ewww… I was onboard until the last bit about legs in your teeth.
i think rooftop gardens are so much cooler than ground gardens for some reason.
Totally agree.
For sure! Anything on a rooftop is infinitely cooler than the ground. 😉
I’m not 100% sure how the world’s food habits will be in 2050, but I pray they are healthier and better for the environment. I’ve been reading Food Matters and it’s really got me thinking about the way we eat and how it affects not only our bodies but everything around us. So interesting!
And I would NEVER eat a bug (on purpose). I told Vishnu that if we ever get stuck in the woods for a prolonged period of time, I would die because I wouldn’t eat anything. He gets mad (at this made up situation) and says that he would force feed me bugs. Ewww!
Will you post a review of the book when you finish? I’m really curious about it!
Did the bug thing in China but it shouldn’t count. Everything deep fried tastes the same!
I’m all over that squash tang though!
Haha – that is true… but I’m willing to be the fried Snickers bar I tasted was a little better. 🙂
I love this post! I think the most noticeable difference in the way we will eat in 2050 will be that most foods will be processed, bioengineered, full of toxic chemicals from the land, or too expensive for most people due to the declining resources to sustain healthy farming practices. I think it will become the norm for most families to have a small garden at home or a plot on a community garden to make sure they have access to affordable fresh food. Maybe it’ll take a little longer than 2050 to get this way, but I think that’s where we’re headed.
I am really wary of this whole lab-grown meat thing. I’m worried that there will be no regulation for labeling the finished product and the consumer may not always know if they are choosing real meat or lab-grown, and I want that choice. Give me crispy fried crickets over lab-grown meat any day!
Did it again! That was me.
Interesting thought about families having gardens. It’s almost like going back tot he way things were pre-industrial.
I think I’d turn vegan before eating crickets OR lab-grown meat!
I do hope that the trend is to go more fresh, healthy and organic but my worry is that food will get more processed and modified. Lab-grown meat just straight up makes me nauseous.
You’re right though, the way we eat changes so much from decade to decade. It will be interesting to see (God willing) how we eat in 2050!!
Have a great weekend =)
I definitely don’t think I’d EVER be brave enough to eat an insect!! Chocolate covered or not it would still just skeeve me out too much!
What about mixed into some of your amazing oat creations? Extra protein in the morning! 😉
Hahah! That’s what my mom always says about bugs! “Extra protein!”
I hope I will continue to eat from my garden and supplement it with locally grown foods.
I think it is completely gross to grow meat from anything other than the actual animal, but then again nothing surprises me with scientists anymore.
Seriously why are we messing with nature.
I don’t think I could eat a bug…but if it was the only option I would definitely hope for a little bit of chocolate to go on top.
Great post to get us all thinking about how we eat and how our decisions impact the food market.
We get to vote with our dollars every time we buy food.
I wonder if there will be land enough for most people to have gardens? Maybe in 2050, but I could see it becoming more and more scarce. Hopefully CSAs will continue to grow in popularity!
Cheers to voting with our $!
Super interesting! I hadn’t really thought about the evolution of food, but you’re right about the old cookbooks…I have one from the 70’s and I’m confuzzled by most of the recipes. Loaves. Lots of loaves. Not of the bread variety. Ew.
I sincerely hope there is an upward swing (super, drastic, major upward swing) toward real food and. I’m glad there are super chef’s like Jamie Oliver helping to prompt this. Our govt has serious weirdness (lobbying, much?) when it comes to food, which is…stupid. Real food, real affordable. That’s all we need! Like Rachel said, we vote with our dollars!
I have no idea where I was going with that, but my main point is…I’m not eating bugs. Ew.
I agree about the government… it’s like they do something with good intentions but then contradict it with their next act.
I do wish there were more healthy fast food options – especially plant-based options. I agree that whatever is easy to get, most people tend to eat. What a difference that could make it everyone’s health! I guess you never know if that would happen at some point. 🙂
How interesting! I need to check out the whole article…except you’ve already recapped it for me, so why add one more thing to my “to do” list? 😉
I’m all about healthy fast food. Seriously, why have we not left our jobs and opened up a drive-thru (which I would spell correctly: drive-through) called Greens? Or Squash? Or Squash-it-to-Me?
Brilliant idea! The Squashery.
This is so interesting! Ya know, I never really thought about future foods. Hopefully cricket flour won’t become a household staple, I don’t know if I could handle that haha 😉
Such an interesting post! With our busy society, I can imagine convenience foods will continue to be a priority, though hopefully healthier ones…
LOVE this topic!
I *hope* that meat consumption goes WAY down in 2050!
Me too. The “meatless Monday” caught on pretty well – better than I expected!
Squash tang?! HAHAHAH! Nice. Insect? I guess if I had to… in that case, I’d just take to Timon & Pumba’s motto- hakuna matata!
We could make some and sell them at an AUM – Timon & Pumba’s Crunchy Bits. 🙂
Jamie, I’ll forgive you for that ever-so-ridiculous photo… and it’s okay, I’ll still marry you, but seriously… stop it. 😉
I think I could bring myself to eat a chocolate-covered mealworm, but not so much with a roach or something, ugh.
LOL! I dunno… that tub would make one helluva engagement pic.
I like the idea of the “food hydrator” from Back to the Future II, making small foods into gluttonous delights in 3 seconds! 😉
I am always fascinated by this! I LOVE old cookbooks and look at them often. I find the history of food and why people eat what they eat completely interesting. I definitely don’t eat like I used to, but I ate healthy (or so I though) then just like I eat healthy now. I don’t think I’ll eat bugs, but I do understand why people do eat them now. Great subject!
I am too – it’s crazy to see the changes in beliefs about what “healthy” is.
My parents had honey ants in the Top End a few years back. I’d try those, I think. But keep insects away from my chocolate, thank you very much!
Come on… you know you’d try a cricket if it was covered in chocolate deliciousness. 😉
What are honey ants?
Wow, this is an interesting post!! It is truly sooooo amazing how eating does evolve over the decades. Although, I don’t remember what kinds of foods/recipes they had back in the 50’s~Perhaps you could refresh my memory? 🙂
And growing meat?! Never heard of that but it really scares me, haha. I think I would eat SOME insects depending on how they’re prepared. Also, depending on the situation. For example, if I were on a mission trip in some country where their delicacy is crickets, then I’d most likely force myself to eat it. But NOOOO roaches, please!!
Thanks! The 50s seemed to have a lot of jellies, cheese balls, and loafs. All of which look pretty nasty. LOL!
I’m with you – there is NO way I could eat a roach. Maybe – and that’s a bit maybe – a cricket if I were starving and it was dipped in PB.
GREAT post! I know when I think about how I ate in the past, I cringe!!!!!! And, HELL yeah I’d eat an insect… if that was my only option! 😀
Thanks lady! I’m pretty sure crickets aren’t vegetarian though! 😛
Great post. Love all the comments and how you got the brains working on this one! Our Leopard Gecko eats crickets, but that’s about all I can handle, although it’s likely the same as a McD burger, right? I am reading A Year in the Village of Eternity by Tracy Lawson which is so opposite of thinking of engineered food! It really has me thinking and going “back” to how I grew up.
Enjoy your weekend!
Thank you! I’m adding that book to me “to read” list. It sounds interesting and it’s set in my favorite place – Italy!
nice trends identified! I will never eat an insect, even if it’s covered with chocolate and nuts and all things nice. I have too much of a phobia with them.
I love looking through old cook books. I saw an old magazine article once with a recipe. The recipe was for a Twinkie cake. No… I’m not kidding.
Twinkie Cake?! That may trump fried Twinkies.
Whoa. Those lollipops with imbedded larvae certainly provide ‘food for thought’ as it were 🙂 – what a great post Laura; it’s true, some things have changed a lot but I’m always amazed at how we circle back to many others… as the French say: “plus ca change, plus sa revient” 🙂
Thank you! Love that expression. 🙂
Oh dear. The future’s looking very bleak. We will be eating bugs and growing meat in petri dishes and Jamie Oliver will turn into a Roman Caesar? I’d better build an underground warehouse and stockpile it now.
LOL! That may not be such a bad idea…
Such an interesting and thought provoking post! I worry a little for how eating habits are going to evolve – lab grown meats sounds downright horrifying. i’d be all for my own rooftop farm though! (organic and pesticide-free, of course 🙂 )
Ps. totally agree with you on Jamie O. in that picture.
Thank you! After reading that article I starting imagining turning my building’s roof into a mini farm. That would be so cool!