The Future of Protein Dinner

Additional course content

Course #6
A Promise of Endless Protein - The Year 2065

As we move deeper into the future, we will need to become increasingly efficient with our use of resources. Current expectations are for 10B people by mid-century, all of whom will need to be fed. The good news is that there are many likely sources of nutrition that we are just starting to tap - including sea plants, cultured and engineered meats, and a variety of insects. 

food Culture

Our definition of protein has widened considerably. We still eat animals like we do today, but we eat much less and what we eat is much better in terms of nutrition, flavor, and sustainability. We now have a more diverse set of proteins in our diet and the sea plays a much bigger role than before, especially in the form of sea plants. The values that define good food are food that benefit people (healthy/flavorful), planet (sustainable), and profit (scalable).

Nutrition

Similar to processed Not only are algaes, kelp and similar sea plants very high in protein, the protein can be delivered as a whole food - without isolating it as with soy and other vegetable protein sources - which makes it more nutritionally accessible. In addition to making super-nutritious cultivated sea plants like sea asparagus available (e.g. Olakai), companies like Seamore and The Algae Factory are creating minimally-processed foods like pasta and chocolate that deliver superfood levels of nutrition from sustainably cultivated sea plants.   protein, insect protein can take the form of flour - making it easy to incorporate into a wide variety of foods, from pasta to food bars. 

environment

Algae, kelp and similar sea plants can be sustainably grown and harvested in coastal ocean ecosystems that actually benefit from their farming. No fresh water or arable land is required for their cultivation, so these precious resources can be put to other uses. Companies like Green Wave are building ocean farms that are not only sustainable, they actually help restore the ecosystems in which they operate. 

PROTEIN PRODUCTION

Sea plants require minimal processing to be edible, and have been used in Japanese and other Asian cuisines for a long time. These algae and plants are also extremely flexible and useful in making other foods, like the agar in the Japanese water cake, cooking oils (e.g. Thrive), protein powders (e.g. AlgaVia), and numerous others.

Sponsor links

• The Algae Factory - delicious and healthy algae-based snacks because we care about people’s health, sustainability and because we want to make a difference in the world.