BERRIRO
BROKOLIRA
Illia Tkachenko, 21 November 2020
People recognize the significance of the computer revolution that shaped our informational reality. Some futurists argue that we are currently in the stage of artificial intelligence and the internet of things revolution.
That all might be true, but what kind of revolution do you think is coming next?
Enthusiasts and at the same time high professionals of the gastronomy sphere were gathered on the 19th and 20th of November in the online conference hosted by the Basque Culinary Center. Speakers represented different countries and covered a variety of topics but throughout the whole conference, we could detect an ongoing idea of raising a totally new perspective on food and food production that would change relations between humans, food, and Earth.
Elsa Yaranzo, a food designer from Barcelona and a panelist at the conference, is convinced that “food should not be a final goal, food should be a tool”. The population of the Earth is constantly growing and such problems as overpopulation and scarcity of resources reveal more and more as a true threat. It is a huge shared responsibility of chefs, scientists, sociologists, and consumers to cope with the situation and come up with new decisions. As Elsa said: “all need to contribute with new solutions, new systems, new materials, new rituals, new experiences, and food design and new ecosystem”.
Does it not sound to you like we are on the edge of some big and great changes? The panelists of the conference, including Elsa, certainly agree with the idea that the Green Revolution is coming. It will touch and change every sphere of our life and first of all, it's gonna touch our food habits and the way we think about food. We need to start changing our consumption and feeding habits on all layers of society. Elsa Yaranzo said that in order to build this new world we must “feed this revolution with design”. Food design will help us bring solutions for this new paradigm and social transformations.
Elsa Yaranzo
After such inspiring ideas, it's time to get to know what a food design actually is. It is a pretty broad concept that defines all processes connected to studying, researching, and creating new products related to gastronomy. During her presentation, Elsa gave a perfect and simple example: whenever people thought of putting a stick into ice cream with the purpose to prevent children from making their hands dirty - it was an act of food design.
Today food designers have way more ambitious goals than keeping hands clean. Food designers are in a search of materials and shapes that will give a new sense to the food we eat. They are about to change the way of thinking and perception of food.
Elsa Yaranzo emphasized the necessity of intense attention to the research of new materials that could replace traditional ones used for preparing food and derivative products, for example like packages. The goal of the global food design community is to make food tastier while the planet and humanity healthier. There are hundreds of companies working on the creation of lab-produced meat in order to reduce animal suffering, make our BBQ diner more ethical, and our air cleaner from CO2. Other companies try to find a solution to the enormous amount of waste we create while cooking. Some are experimenting with coffee waste and creating new technologies for its usage and some are trying to produce new packaging material out of biopolymers in the fish scales. A number of companies are experimenting with the usage of insects for creating albumen-rich and sustainable food.
Elsa and her colleagues are convinced that a green revolution is approaching. It requires actions and contribution from the whole gastronomic community and from the usual consumer. However, food designers hold their unique place in introducing the change. Their responsibility is to invent new food habits and adjust them to mass consumption.