Here science has several options for its development.

The latest technologies are not just smartphones and tablets. Scientists and inventors are paying more and more attention to the field of nutrition. Global warming, overpopulation of the planet, hypertrophied consumption of food - all these problems need to be solved in the near future.

'Artificial' meat...

Remember the movie "The Matrix"? A student from England's Royal College of Art, Andre Ford, proposed a similar system for mass chicken production back in 2012. The birds are deprived of their brains, and they themselves are packed into special vertical farms.

The modern system of raising birds has a number of difficulties: birds grow for about 6-7 weeks in a dark, enclosed space, in which they often die due to the rapid growth of the body itself, which the lungs and heart cannot keep up with. Plus, epidemics often occur, and contaminated meat may end up in production.

What Andre suggested. Chickens have their cerebral cortex removed, allowing their sensory perceptions to be completely suppressed in denser packages.

“Removing the cerebral cortex will allow the chick to come to terms with the harsh realities of its existence and even experience pleasure, which will replace the feelings of fear, pain and anxiety,” says Ford.

They will be fed with nutrient fluid supplied through special tubes. Due to the preservation of the brain stem, outwardly they will develop absolutely normally. In addition, stimulation with electrical impulses will help you grow more meat.

Or another way to make meat:

In 2013, a unique hamburger was presented to gourmet tasters in London. His mince, for the first time in history, was entirely grown in vitro. Scientists have used cow stem cells to create muscle tissue.

The whole procedure took quite a long time - more than three months. And the cost of such a hamburger is more than 300 thousand dollars.

Tasters found the beef cutlet a bit dry and low in fat. Therefore, “chef” Mark Post from the University of Maastricht in Holland promised that in the future he will prepare his product more tasty, and will try to make it more accessible, for only $65.

But there is a cheaper way to create meat:

Meat made from plant ingredients.

Work on such a product is being carried out by Impossible Foods, which Google intended to acquire for $300 million.

This startup aims to create meat and cheese from various plants. But provided that the primary taste qualities are preserved. By studying animal products at the molecular level, bioengineers from Impossible Foods 'isolate' special proteins and substances from greens, grains and dairy products that can recreate meat and dairy products.

No less amazing developments are being carried out by scientists from the Hampton Creek startup.

Just Mayo - mayonnaise without using eggs.

This product has already been created. Hampton Creek employees worked on its creation for more than two years. The team studied one and a half thousand plants and managed to identify the main 11 that can be emulsified into mayonnaise. The Hampton Creek product uses a variety of yellow field peas.

Just Mayo was provided for blind tasting. As the scientists expected, not everyone could distinguish their product from the original mayose.

The startup's success is obvious. Large “egg” companies, fearing serious competition, lobbied for a scandal in the States around a new product. In an attempt to ruin Hampton Creek's reputation, numerous bloggers were bribed to promote negative reviews in search engines. This is truly the best compliment for the makers of Just Mayo.

Another invention is no less amazing. Namely

Edible packages:

51-year-old Harvard bioengineer David Edwards estimates that a third of all waste that humanity leaves behind is packaging. Cardboard boxes, bags, food wrappers... everything we leave behind after eating. And he found a solution - WikiCell - edible packaging for everything from soup and yogurt to alcohol. The scientist was inspired by nature itself. After all, all plants, fruits and vegetables have their own “packaging” that can be eaten if desired.

“We can surround any edible substance or drink with a film similar to grape skins that is completely edible,” he says.

So, after some time, the startup WikiFoods appeared, which produces balls with food or drink - WikiPearl. The balls are protected from the environment by a nutritious and, most importantly, natural substance, which the creators of WikiPearl call a protective electrostatic gel. This gel is formed with the help of natural food particles and polysaccharide. It is practically impermeable to water and oxygen.

You can purchase cheeses, yoghurts, ice cream, and various processed fruits and vegetables from WikiFoods. You can even order alcoholic drinks or soups in special packaging that looks like grape skins.

But the next invention could rid you of food altogether.

Amazing powder

Rob Rinehart was very busy working on his startup in 2013. He didn't even have time to go out and buy himself something to eat. And then a brilliant idea came to his mind. He came up with Soylent powder, which is capable of giving a person the required amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as a whole bunch of vitamins and elements of the periodic table: magnesium, zinc, molybdenum and many others.

Rob claims that he now only visits restaurants to have a good time. And in everyday life he eats only his own powder. And it feels amazing.

To have a snack, simply dilute the powder with water and take it instead of food. But not so long ago, Rinehart offered his new product - Soylent 2.0. This is a ready-made powder in liquid form.

This invention is quite popular in the USA: Soylent is difficult to order, and a set of 12 bottles of version 2.0 will cost the buyer $34. Soylent shoppers love the ability to easily replace daytime snacks. They claim that the powder helps them keep their bodies in good shape, and overeating is a thing of the past for them. And there is no need to wash dishes after such a meal.

And finally, something that we have in abundance on our planet.

Insects

According to food futurist Morgan Gay, we can easily replace our usual chicken, pork and beef with insects. And in the near future we will not be surprised by sausages and sausages made from, say, locusts or larvae. He is also supported by scientists from the UN, who issued a report in which eating insects in food is called the most realistic way to combat hunger in the world. By the way, more than two billion people in Asia and Africa regularly eat about 2 thousand different species of insects.

Insects have a lot of protein and essential minerals, they multiply quickly, and they have less harmful fats. Keeping insects is very simple; such a “farm” will not harm the environment, like a similar farm with cattle.

But the most interesting idea for eating insects was proposed by designer Katharina Anger: a futuristic tabletop farm in which you can easily grow edible fly larvae at home. This invention should inspire people to produce their own healthy protein.

But the main problem with eating insects is the repulsive appearance of these creatures. The majority of the world's population, at the sight of such dishes, will only experience aversion to food. And as soon as scientists can eliminate this ‘problem’, and find a way to educate ignorant Europeans about the excellent taste and benefits of eating grasshoppers, ants and caterpillars, the problem will be solved.

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A person born in 2016 is accustomed to considering the most ordinary food things that his ancestors could not even imagine. Offer spicy Doritos and orange Fanta to a medieval man in the street - and you will burn at the stake for practicing black magic. However, the food of the future may also seem something strange and inedible to you and me.

Modern scientific research not only regularly provides us with more convenient and cheaper food products and ways to store them, but also gives us hope for maintaining and developing the stability of the food market. The meat industry, for example, plays a huge role in the planet’s environmental problems: about 10% of all greenhouse gases in large countries are produced by the agricultural sector. In addition, the world's population is growing steadily, and the problem of mass starvation is increasingly emerging as a source of scientific debate. Feeding the 9 billion people who, in a favorable scenario, will inhabit our planet in 2050 will not be easy!

Here are some of the list of future foods that will help humanity delay starvation and the transition to healthy social cannibalism:

Insects

One of the future food products that civilized Europeans will have to get used to may be insects: crickets, grasshoppers and even mealworms. Nowadays, pasta products made from flour with the addition of crushed insects are already sold, which significantly increases their nutritional value. A 100-gram serving of crickets contains 13 grams of protein, while a similar serving of grasshoppers contains 21. Scientists are also studying the use of mealworms in the food industry as a cheap source of dietary fat. The discussion also touches on the fact that insects, like regular livestock, may be affected by diet. For example, it was possible to grow large enough crickets only with an abundant diet, but black soldier flies grow the same, regardless of the nature of their diet, so their breeding and cultivation is many times more profitable. The main problem remains the taste of insects and their aesthetics - many people simply cannot bring themselves to try pasta made from crushed beetles.

Lab-grown meat

Scientists at companies like Memphis Meat and Mosa Meat want to solve the problem of breeding cattle using stem cells, from which they hope to grow real synthetic meat. A 2011 study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found that growing meat in labs would require 7% to 45% less energy, reduce land use by 99% and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 78% to 96%. Needless to say, this is not only incredibly profitable, but also humane to animals?

However, scientist Mark Post explains that the mass release of synthetic meat on the market will be possible only after 10-20 years. His company plans to sell trial samples in a couple of years, however, as the first tasters report, the $300,000 meat pie, although edible, is completely devoid of any outstanding taste qualities. It is worth noting that all manufacturers of synthetic food products face a similar problem, but sooner or later, through the efforts of scientists and professional chefs, they nevertheless become complete food products.

Fish farms

For many modern people, killing mammals even for the purpose of obtaining food is unacceptable, and therefore they are forced to look for another source of natural proteins: fish. Unlike cattle pastures, fish farms do not occupy vast amounts of fertile land, and, compared to cows, the fish themselves require only a small portion of the feed to produce an equivalent amount of protein.

Currently, overfishing is becoming a growing problem, but researchers say that limiting the catch of certain types of fish will allow marine inhabitants to quickly restore their numbers. In their view, the commercial future of fishing companies lies not in fishing, but in breeding fish in hatcheries. Back in 2011, agriculture reached a historic milestone when, for the first time in history, people raised more fish than beef—and the industry has only been accelerating since then.

Fish substitutes

Since we're talking about fish, why not grow it in laboratories in the same way as meat? NASA researchers have already developed complete fish fillets by injecting goldfish muscle tissue into fetal calf serum. Another company, New Wave Foods, is working to synthesize shrimp from red algae.

As already noted, it is currently difficult to say exactly how such methods will affect the use of natural resources. Be that as it may, so far the forecasts are the most optimistic: Oron Cutts, director of the SymbioticA biotechnology center at the University of Western Australia, is confident that such methods will create a real food revolution in the near future.

Seaweed

Microscopic algae, like other plants, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A 2013 study found that these green crumbs produce impressive amounts of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, making them a good source of nutrients. New work also suggests that some types of algae contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as other fatty acids that have a positive effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

Unfortunately, trials testing microscopic algae as food haven't gone very well. Soylent previously marketed products containing ground flour, but the product had to be recalled because it caused serious digestive problems for a number of customers. However, the supplier company TerraVia denies any guilt and insists that the algae will appear on the shelves again.

GMO products

This method of food production can significantly save time on its preparation, as well as make any food accessible to older people who find it difficult to chew and swallow regular meals. Even NASA investors insist that in the future astronauts will have to make do not with nutritional paste, but with a complete diet that can be “cooked” using 3D printing during long-distance flights. It is also important that the printed food will always be hot and fresh.

Perhaps we can all switch to photosynthesis together?

Food production is a huge industry that requires continuous maintenance by huge numbers of people and robots. The sea slug Elysia chlorotica has already learned to steal algae DNA to carry out photosynthesis, so why can't we? Alas, now this is more likely the ground for science fiction, and not for real science: as even rough calculations show, in order for the body to receive enough energy and resources, its photosynthetic area must be much larger than the outer cover that we now have. It is possible that future photosynthetics will have to grow additional skin membranes and other fantastic organs to absorb sunlight.

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According to UN forecasts, by the end of the century the population of our planet will reach, and possibly exceed, 11 billion people. Scientists seriously concerned about the food crisis are proposing solutions ranging from bug sandwiches to flasks of inhaled chocolate that await us in the post-cooking era.

website invites you to discover the future of gastronomy and test your inner gourmet.

1. Dishes with insects

American futurist Raymond Kurzweil, whose forecasts have so far come true with high accuracy, predicts that by the middle of the 21st century, products will be produced by machines, and their parameters (calorie content, vitamin content, etc.) will be laid down at the molecular level . Thus, the food will remain the same, only it will become much healthier.

Another suggestion from the scientist is that we will be able to create objects out of thin air, so it will likely take much less time to cook.

3. Food patch

Nicotine and anti-cellulite patches won’t surprise anyone anymore, but what do you think of the idea of ​​a snack patch? The American military development is scheduled for release in 2025 and is a chipped body patch that supplies nutrients to our body through pores or capillaries.

Scientists note that such a patch cannot replace meals for life, but it will be useful for representatives of dangerous professions who do not always have stable access to food: astronauts, miners, firefighters, etc.

4. Meat alternative

The enormous harm caused by animal farms to the environment, the rapid growth of the planet's population, as well as the growing number of vegetarians make the issue of meat-eating more and more acute.

Beyond insect meatballs The world's best minds are now working on growing meat. Biochemist Patrick Brown has already launched the Impossible Foods project to produce meat in test tubes. A decisive role in growing cutlets is played by hemes - molecules that are part of the cells of all plants and animals. Hemes make our blood red, play an important role in burning calories, and they also give meat its characteristic aroma and taste.

At first, the price of test tube meat will be approximately twice the standard price, but the development of such projects will make the technology cheaper.

5. Such a different jellyfish

Gastrophysicist Mie Pederson spoke about a new method of drying jellyfish: it is time-saving, and the end result is tasty, low-calorie and healthy chips.

As with insects, drying jellyfish is a long-standing tradition in Asian cuisine. In the process of classic 30-40-day drying, table salt and alum are used, while modern technology uses alcohol. After it evaporates, the jellyfish chips are immediately ready for consumption.

Another new one a delicacy whose appearance we owe to jellyfish is glowing ice cream from Lick Me I'm Delicious. Its creators add jellyfish protein to the product, recreated in the laboratory by Chinese scientists. As soon as you start eating this ice cream, it reacts to external influences and begins to glow. True, the price of such an experimental delicacy exceeded $200, so it is unknown how soon we will be able to see it on supermarket shelves.

6. Steamy meal

Canadian chef Norman Aitken created Le Whaf machine, in which food (usually soups or smoothies) turns into fog under the influence of ultrasound. To enjoy such a dish, you need it breathe through a special tube. Aitken argues that this extravagant way of eating allows you to better distinguish the taste of each ingredient and consume far fewer calories.

It is worth noting that Norman’s apparatus is an improved version of the invention of Harvard professor David Edwards. His device turned dark chocolate into inhalable chocolate, which was highly appreciated by sweet tooths and lovers of a slim figure throughout Europe.

7. Use waste wisely

Careful attitude towards food manifests itself in a variety of forms and with good reason: at the moment there are about 795 million hungry people in the world, and a third of suitable food is simply thrown away.

More and more people are preaching ideas freeganism - a protest movement against the consumer economy and the thoughtless destruction of resources, including food. Eating unspoiled food thrown out by restaurants and supermarkets, freegans rarely become beggars. These are prosperous people who draw attention to the problem and at the same time save well.

Lean also works on a much larger scale: since 2015 in France there is a law prohibiting supermarkets from destroying suitable food and requiring these stores to enter into contracts with charitable organizations. And in Denmark there is a restaurant where dishes are prepared from discarded (but not expired) provisions. Shops and farmers supply owners with non-commercial products, and this does not harm either the quality of the dishes or the popularity of the restaurant.

8. 3D cooking

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Global warming and overpopulation are two problems that humanity will face in the near future. Scientists estimate that in the next 50 years the population will grow by another 2 billion people, and all these people will need to be fed. What exactly will become popular in 50-100 years is still difficult to predict, but some predictions can still be made. Perhaps, instead of food, we will drink some kind of nutritional mixture or stick on a patch - who knows? We've collected the most fantastic food options of the future.

1. Ggenetically modified grain

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70% of the human diet consists of wheat, rice and corn. But they need to be replanted every year, which naturally requires a lot of resources. Scientists believe it is possible to create perennial crops that will require fewer resources and make agriculture more sustainable. Such varieties will be developed in about 20 years.
Additionally, in the future, farmers will return to some forgotten crops that are resistant to extreme weather conditions. Scientists point to quinoa, spelled and millet as nutritious and healthy grains.

2. Food patches

31tv.ru

American scientists together with the military are working on patches that will contain all the nutrients necessary for humans. Such patches can be used by soldiers in combat zones. The patch contains a microchip that calculates nutritional needs and then releases the appropriate nutrients. Alas, they cannot completely replace food, but they will help maintain energy in extreme situations. This technology will be available by 2025 and will be useful to miners, astronauts, and the military.

3. Urban farms

lookatme

By 2050, the estimated population of our planet will be about 9.1 billion people. To feed such a horde, it will be necessary to use all the lands. Urban farms already exist today in backyards and on the rooftops of residential buildings. This is already practiced in Japan: the personnel company Pasona Group has built an office building, which, in addition to the work space, contains 4,000 square meters of vegetation where rice, fruits and vegetables grow. All products go to the table in the cafe for employees.

4. Inhaled food

lifeglobe

Harvard University professor David Edwards invented a device that atomizes inhalable dark chocolate. The product became a bestseller, and consumers unanimously claimed that they had curbed their appetite for sweet foods. A Canadian chef has improved the technology and invented something cooler. Food (most often soup) is placed inside the device and, under the influence of ultrasound, turns into a kind of fog. At this moment, the client, using a straw, inhales this nutritious tamn. By tasting food in such an unusual format, you can distinguish the taste of individual ingredients and the whole dish. In addition, this is an ideal option for those who are on a diet - in 10 minutes of inhalation you get only 200 calories.

5. 3D printed food

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In May 2013, NASA announced the development of special 3D food printing technology. This could mainly be useful to astronauts, who during long expeditions could print out delicious meals rather than eat from tubes. An engineering bureau from Texas has already prepared pizza, and scientists from Cornell University (New York) are not far behind their colleagues. Using hydrocoloids (instead of printer ink), they print out almost anything your heart desires: chocolate, carrots, mushrooms, fried fish, apples, boiled chicken, banana, pasta, fresh cheese, tomatoes, yolk, and so on. Printed food, according to scientists, will be healthier and more nutritious.

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Pizza on a 3D printer

6. Jellyfish ice cream

fotostrana

The fish population in the seas is decreasing, and the jellyfish population is increasing. Scientists have proposed a number of methods to solve this problem.In addition to tightening controls and introducing special nets, they also proposed using jellyfish in the food and medical industries. For example, this is how the Chinese once ate. The funniest thing is that the producers of Lick Me I'm Delicious ice cream began adding jellyfish protein to their ice cream, which glows when exposed to external influences. This way the new ice cream starts to shine when it is eaten.

7. Test tube meat

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The livestock industry uses 75% of all agricultural land for grazing, and 35% of the world's food goes to feed these livestock. In addition, 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere come from livestock farming (which is more than from transport). That is why scientists are gradually starting to talk about giving up meat, which, moreover, is very harmful.Safer, healthier meat can be grown in a laboratory. The first burger made from meat grown from cow stem cells was fried onpress conferencesAugust 5, 2013. However, such a cutlet still costs a lot - approximately $325 thousand.

8. Fish farms

rusinn.com

The founder of the Aqua-Spark Foundation, Mike Wehlings, is convinced that we need to stop catching fish from the oceans in such quantities. Otherwise, the oceans will turn into deserts. He invests money in “fish startups”, such as developing the fish farms of the future. Most likely, these will be giant closed biological systems where vegetables and fruits will also be grown. Similar installations are already used in Israel, thanks to which the state saves fresh water and reduces the cost of fish production.

9. Edible packaging

news.unipack

Almost all the food we buy is packaged. Boxes, bags, wrappers - we throw all this into the landfill. Bioengineer David Edwards found a solution to the problem- WikiCell.This is an edible packaging for all liquids. “We can surround any edible substance or drink with a film similar to grape skins that is completely edible,” he says. Inspired by the structure of the cell that holds water, Edwards created a material that would keep food fresh and keep bacteria and other substances out. This innovation has already been used in an advertising campaign for a fast food chain, where burgers were wrapped in edible wrappers.

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Edible packaging

10. Chewing gum for breakfast, lunch and dinner

likar.info

Scientist Dave Hart has been developing for 7 years an analogue of chewing gum from the fairy tale “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, containing the taste of three dishes at once. The new technology he's working on allows different flavors to be released at different times. Miracle gum is based on microcapsules that were designed to deliver medications to specific areas of the digestive system. Some capsules will contain a flavorful soup, while others will contain roast beef, blueberry pie, etc. The nutritional content of this invention is not specified.

11. Seaweed instead of vegetables

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There are 10 thousand species of algae on the planet, 145 of which are edible. Their cultivation may become the largest agricultural industry in the future. This is no longer news in Asia, as seaweed is used in soups, rolls and salads. In Japan, for example, there are already special farms.
Biologist Chuck Fischer is also convinced that algae will save the world from starvation. He planned to implant tiny single-celled photosynthetic algae under human skin. “These tiny symbionts will be able to create most of the food that humans need, and this could help feed the world's hungry,” says the researcher. “And since humans are warm-blooded, we can grow food under our own skin, even in winter.”

12. Food and drink from waste

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Everyone has long known that astronauts drink water obtained from their own urine and evaporation. Specialists have developed a purification system that turns human waste into drinking waterNASA. The European Space Agency (ESA) is ready to go even further.Agency employees are working on the systemMelissa, which is designed to process every gram of human waste. The system converts them into oxygen, food and water. It is expected that a fully working device will appear by 2024.

13. Insects

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Chicken, pork and beef will soon be a thing of the past. Morgan Gay is convinced that insects can be used to make delicious sausages, sausages and hamburgers. UN representatives agree with him, who believe that eating insects will be a real way to combat hunger in the world. This is already practiced in Asia and Africa. Insects are rich in proteins and minerals, multiply quickly and contain less fat than regular meat; These “livestock” are much easier to maintain and do not damage the environment as much as cattle. But so far Westerners are in no hurry to grow fly larvae at home, as industrial designer Katharina Unger suggests. Now officials are setting themselves the task of changing stereotypes regarding insects. Soteam from the Danish Nutrition Laboratorylooking for ways to convince ignorant Europeans about the benefits, as well as the excellent taste of grasshoppers, ants and caterpillars, and chefs develop attractive recipes.

14. Taste modified by sound

rusinn

Surprisingly, sound can affect the taste of food. High-pitched sounds add more sweetness, while low-pitched sounds make the taste more bitter. This discovery has far-reaching prospects, especially in the field of pies and cakes. Dessert can be made healthier by reducing the amount of sugar, but without sacrificing taste.At the experimental London restaurant House of Wolf served Sonic cake pop cake, which comes with instructions with two phone numbers: by calling one, the eater should feel a sweeter taste, and by calling the other, a more bitter one. In the first case, the client listens to a melody in high tones, in the second - a slow, gloomy one in low tones.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948, contains an article according to which everyone has the right to decent food. But despite this, according to WHO, approximately 30% of the world's population suffers from lack of food. People could experience large-scale food shortages by 2050. According to forecasts by scientists from the University of Minnesota, by this time the world's population will grow to 9.6 billion people and will not be able to feed itself. Therefore, scientists around the world are already working on creating the food of the future. Powdered food, jellyfish dishes, water from feces and other food options are in the photo gallery below.

Food patch

The transdermal patch is not a new word in medicine. Today it is most often used to quit smoking. In the mid-2000s, scientists, together with the US Department of Defense, began to develop a food patch capable of supplying the body with essential microelements and vitamins. As conceived by the creators, biologically active substances should be absorbed through the pores of the skin and then distributed throughout the body through the circulatory system. The chip built into the patch will be able to read information about a person’s satiety and, if necessary, give the body a “supplement.” First of all, the food patch will be useful to the military in a combat zone, astronauts and miners. Dr. Patrick Dunn, who is leading the development, estimates that the first samples of the transdermal patch will appear by 2025.

Nutritious chewing gum

In Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka produced chewing gum. Chewing it, it seemed as if he had eaten a full three-course lunch and that he was absolutely full. British scientist Dave Hart from the Institute of Food Research in Norwich decided to turn this fabulous idea into reality and began work in 2010. Hart came up with the idea of ​​introducing microcapsules with the taste of certain products into chewing gum, which burst upon contact with saliva. Softer capsules with the taste of first courses “open” first, and harder ones, with the taste of hot and dessert, later and with more intense chewing. Hart was able to develop technology that prevents flavors from mixing. To do this, he lined different layers of chewing gum with gelatin.

Powdered food

The slogan of the instant drink Invite, popular in the 90s, is “Just add water!” adopted by American programmer Rob Reinhart. In 2013, he introduced a powder cocktail called Soylent, which, according to the creator, can completely replace traditional food. All you need to do before using it is simply dilute the mixture with water. At the same time, the cocktail will already contain the required amount of vitamins, amino acids, fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Reinhart himself ate only Soylent powder as an experiment for a month. During this time, he managed to lose a couple of extra pounds, felt healthy and energetic, but most importantly, he was not distracted by thoughts about food.
Following Soylent, other powdered food analogues appeared on the market. One of them is the organic Ambronite cocktail, suitable even for vegetarians. Its creators focused on the naturalness of the product, and included organic apples, berries and chopped nuts in its composition. One serving of the Soylent mixture costs $2.5, after taking which the feeling of hunger is not felt for 5 - 6 hours.

Fecal water

Drinking water shortage is one of the global problems of the 21st century. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world in 2016 according to Forbes, whose fortune is estimated at $75 billion, proposed his own solution to this problem. The billionaire invested in the Omni Processor project, which processes feces into drinking water. Its pilot version was launched in 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. The plant, which converts excrement into water and electricity, was developed by Janicki Bioenergy. Dakar, with a population of 3.4 million people, was not chosen by chance to launch the Omni Processor - a third of the local population does not have access to sewerage.

Gates himself does not hesitate to drink water obtained from human waste products. In his blog, the billionaire wrote: “I watched as feces were conveyed through a conveyor belt into a large tank where they underwent a purification process: the water was evaporated from them, then processed. After a few minutes I was able to appreciate the end result: a glass of clean, tasty water.”

Plant-based eggs

In addition to fecal water, the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation has invested in the development of plant-based eggs. In addition to the spouses, another entrepreneur, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, invested in the project, which was developed by biochemists from Hampton Creek Foods. To obtain vegan eggs, which are a powder used in cooking, 12 plants were selected, including peas and sorghum. The semi-finished product was called “Beyond Eggs” and went on sale in the United States in 2013. Plant-based eggs do not contain antibiotics, cholesterol or harmful microorganisms. In addition, Bill Gates noted their environmental friendliness and ethical “chicken-free” production.

According to UN forecasts, the price of animal products will increase significantly in the future. This means that their substitutes will be necessary. According to the founder of Hampton Creek Foods, Josh Tetrick, plant-based analogues of popular products can, among other things, help fight hunger in third world countries.

Test tube meat

Back in the 1930s, Winston Churchill said: “In 50 years, we will not be absurdly raising a whole chicken to eat only the breasts or wings, but will be raising these parts separately in a suitable environment.” The former British Prime Minister was mistaken by several decades. The first piece of beef weighing 140 grams, obtained in the laboratory using stem cells, was presented in 2013. “Test tube meat” was synthesized by the team of Professor Mark Post from the University of Maastricht, and the main investor of the project was Google co-founder Sergey Brin (No. 13 in the Forbes global ranking, net worth $34.4 billion). He invested $300,000 in the development of artificial meat. Then several volunteers tasted a piece of beef, but they were not satisfied with its taste. The laboratory staff spent the next few years improving the quality of meat and reducing its price - by 2015, the cost per kilogram of the product was $80. “Test tube meat” could appear on store shelves in 5 to 10 years, says Mark Post. Moreover, more and more people will begin to give it preference due to ethical considerations.

3D printed food

Houses, prosthetics, weapons and much more. 3D printing technology is expanding its capabilities every year. And it is not surprising that scientists tried to print food. One of the first to present a prototype of such a device was the American engineer Anyang Contractor from the Systems & Materials Research Corporation. Soon NASA drew attention to its development and issued a grant for further research. The printer creates food from several nutritional components contained in special cartridges. Their shelf life is at least 30 days, which solves the problem of perishable food.

Another project developing 3D printed food is the New York company Modern Meadow. Its specialists focused on creating leather and meat and received a grant of $10 million in 2014. “A real 3D printed steak is almost a fantasy today,” said the head of the company, András Forgeks. “Of course, this will not be our first product, because creating a steak is a very difficult matter. The first wave of meat products created using this method will most likely be semi-finished minced meat products and pates.”

Jellyfish

The jellyfish population has reached a critical level. The UN published such data in its report in 2013. Jellyfish pose a threat to ships, clog power plant drains and eat their competitors up the food chain. In Asian countries, jellyfish themselves have long been part of the diet and are called “crystal meat”. UN experts advise representatives of other nations to adopt the Asian experience: “If you cannot fight them, eat them.” This will help reduce the jellyfish population and provide additional food for humanity in the future.

There are advantages to eating jellyfish. They contain a healthy range of vitamins and minerals, are a source of protein, and also contain a minimum of calories.

Inhaled food

Instead of chewing and swallowing, biomedical engineer and Harvard University professor David Edwards suggested inhaling food. In 2011, he introduced Le Whaf, a device that delivers edible mist to the table. A special liquid substance with a concentrate of the flavor of tomato soup or chocolate cake is placed in a glass container, where it is split into a tiny suspension under the influence of ultrasound. You can also turn alcohol into steam using Le Whaf. To inhale the product and feel its taste in the mouth, Edwards provided a special glass tube. It is worth noting that the famous French experimental chef Thierry Marx, known for his liquid Lorraine pie and meringues cooked in nitrogen, helped the scientist in creating compositions with different flavors. “Le Whaf brings us closer to a future in which eating is both ephemeral and integral, something like breathing,” Edwards commented on his invention.