What Is The Future Of Food?

 

To mark the relaunch of their site, Eater asked food and beverage industry leaders how they want to change the world through food. As you can imagine, there were some pretty ambitious answers, including my own. 

Personally, I find it really frustrating that fresh food, like the gorgeous Cobb from Tavern pictured above, costs an arm and a leg. I really do hope that there's a time that everyone has access to fresh, healthful food. And here's how I think it could happen, as I put it to Eater:

I feel that the future of food is in independence, education, and equity. I would rip out all of the life-sucking lawns and golf courses, then seed bomb the heck out of them, especially the giant patches of useless grass in front of official public buildings. City hall and courthouse facades would be covered with Woolly Pockets. Sidewalks and street medians would be a place for fruit trees and vining veg. All of that food would be grown and maintained by the public - empowered by master gardeners and community educators - providing good, clean, fair produce for everyone. Then I'd covert swimming pools into fully sustainable ecosystems, complete with tilapia ponds and chicken coops. Sayonara, draught. Adios, food deserts. Say hello to the food system of the future!

Sure, some of these ideas might sound a little jovial our outlandish. But then again, if you told me 10 years ago that people would be devouring brussels sprouts with wild abandon or that we'd be growing meat in test tubes, I would have said the same thing.

I also can't help but feel a tidbit guilty considering how much of an environmental impact all of my galavanting around the world has on the planet. I love exploring ingredients and inspiring people to travel through food, but there's always a little voice inside of me that wants to scream every time I waslk by a hotel cart full of those baby plastic shampoo bottles, or use disposable cutlery at a street stall that doesn't recycle. And let's not even talk about the airplanes. Hooey!

There is, of course, the upside of cultural understanding and exchange, and the fact that tourism can be a good thing for developing countries if it's done sustainably. But still, it's something I wrestle with. I guess all I can do is try my best to live as consciously as I can, both when I'm at home and when I'm on the road.

So, little dreamers, how would you change the world through food?