The Future Of Food

Meat consumption worldwide has doubled in the last 20 years, and it is expected to double again by 2050. This is happening in large part because economies are growing and people can afford more meat. That's all good news. But raising meat takes a great deal of land and water and has a substantial environmental impact. Put simply, there’s no way to produce enough meat for 9 billion people. Yet we can't ask everyone to become vegetarians. We need more options for producing meat without depleting our resources.

Over the past few years I've come across a few companies that are doing pioneering work on innovations that give a glimpse into possible solutions. To be sure, it's still very early, but the work these companies are doing makes me optimistic. I wanted to share with you a look at their work on creating alternatives to meat and eggs that are just as healthful, are produced more sustainably, and taste great.

Read on to learn how their work can benefit everyone.

Food scientists are creating healthful plant-based alternatives that taste just like eggs, chicken, and other sources of protein.

Companies like Beyond Meat and Hampton Creek Foods are experimenting with new ways to use heat and pressure to turn plants into foods that look and taste just like meat and eggs. I tasted Beyond Meat's chicken alternative and was impressed. I couldn't tell the difference between Beyond Meat and real chicken. Beyond Eggs, Hampton Creek Foods' egg substitute, doesn't contain the high cholesterol of real eggs. Even spices are getting re-made: a company called Nu-Tek Food Science has found a way to make potassium chloride taste just like salt, with only a fraction of the sodium.

Learn more about this fascinating process, and the innovative companies behind it, in the video gallery, up next, followed by my Q&A with author and food activist Michael Pollan.

I love to visit the Modernist Cuisine Cooking Lab – the way they combine cooking and science is fascinating! I asked the chefs at Modernist Cuisine to create recipes with Beyond Meat's chicken-free product, and the results were indistinguishable from the real thing. Get the recipes for their Chicken-Free Tikka Masala and Grilled Chicken-Free Strips and Vegetable Salad with Sunflower Seed Pesto next, and try it for yourself.

We're just at the beginning of enormous innovation in this space. For a world full of people who would benefit from getting a nutritious, protein-rich diet, this makes me very optimistic.

If we shift our thinking about what we eat, and how it gets to our plates, we’ll be more open to the food innovations that are out there.

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