Changing tastes: Can technology sustainably feed the world?

Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World

Climate change is putting many of the foods we love at risk. Add in rapid population growth — the planet will be home to 9.7 billion people by 2050 — and it’s clear we need to reimagine how we feed ourselves. As food security expert Leonore Newman says, “we are running short on planet.” But is society ready for replacement proteins and lab-grown meats? Whether it’s cell-grown salmon or chili lime crickets, the plate of the future is going to look a little bit different. In this episode of Solve for X, we discuss the revolution in what we eat — and why it’s as much about technology as it is about safeguarding our planet’s future.

Featured in this episode:

• Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, is an expert in food security and technology and holds a UFV Research Chair in Food and Agriculture Innovation.
• Preeti Simran Sethi teaches sustainable food systems at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. She’s also the author of an award-winning book on agrobiodiversity, Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love.
• Journalist and author Larissa Zimberoff explores the evolving relationship between food and technology in her work. Her book, Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat, delves into the transformations in our diets and the startups driving this shift.
• Darren Goldin is a co-founder of Entomo Farms, an insect-based farming company that produces cricket flour, cricket powder and insect protein. He’s also the vice president of farming operations, overseeing the three barns on Entomo’s property.

Further Reading:

• Protein shakeup: Are crickets and lab-grown meat the future of food?
• The foods humans ate into extinction
• How to grow fish from stem cells
• Our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss
• The future of food: What will you be eating in 2050?
• Lab-Grown Meat Approved for Sale: What You Need to Know

Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com.