Nowadays, the demand for food rockets without sight of halting. It is estimated by the UN that food demand will increase up to 70% within the next 35 years. An increase in food production is the most straight-forward solution but it comes with certain hazards. One of the most important food to human is undoubtedly meat. The most common hazard of meat production is that it contributes greatly to global warming by using a great amount of water, destroying forests, causing erosion and emitting carbon dioxide – the most common greenhouse gas (production of cow meat). Nonetheless, the animal wastes from the production are put in coastal areas, thus creating the so-called dead zones. Hence it is high time to advance our cuisine to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Acknowledging the problem, the famous brand IKEA attempts to tackle it by means of technology. For a long time, IKEA has been well-known not only for its affordable furniture, but also for the famous Swedish meatballs and without a doubt it has been one big factor of the company that needs an urgent environmentally friendly solution. The solution they come up with lies within the 3D printing technology. The technology is being developed in IKEA’s future-living laboratory Space10 located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The research (called Tomorrow’s Meatball: A Visual Exploration of Future Food) aims to find out sustainable substitute ingredients and production technology. Futuristically speaking, we will soon be able to have a dinner menu with meatballs of artificially made meat, bugs, nuts, algae, etc. using 3D print technology. The new ingredients might sound unappetizing but they are promised to have similar tastes to our meatballs nowadays and they help reducing the use of real meat by a large margin. Thus in order to cope with the high food demanding future, we need to be ready for these changes (stated by Bas van de Poel – design resident at Space10). The project has showcased some of its finest “green” meatballs menu, including:
The project gives a new vision on a greener and sustainable cuisine where we can utilize most of the edible materials around us. Reference: Yusuf, B. Dec 2015. IKEA Will Save the Planet with 3D Printed Meatballs. https://all3dp.com/ikea-will-save-planet-3d-printed-meatballs/ Pour, K, Poel, B, Perez, S, Renlund, L, Borring, K & Caspersen, S. Dec 2015. Tomorrow’s Meatball: A Visual Exploration of Future Food. https://www.space10.io/journal/tomorrow-s-meatball-what-we-all-could-be-eating-20-years-from-now |
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May 2019
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