CONNOISSEUR:Science-based diet advice will be all the rage as we become more aware how food affects our genes, writes Hugo Arnold
I'M TUCKING INTO a plate of lasagne which, along with a pillow-bag of pre-washed, gas-flushed rocket dressed with olive oil is supper. The pasta is pretty flabby, the meat sauce far from inspired. But it is dinner and I am hungry. By 2020, this scenario is unlikely, according to a recent report from Bord Bia, The Future Landscape of Global Food and Drink.
Not only are we consumers going to play a far greater role in designing our food (out goes the flabby pasta?), we are going to be eating with a completely different approach. Nutrigenomics looks at how foods affect our genes and how our individual genetic differences dictate the way we respond to nutrients in foods. So the idea of eating lasagne, tempting as it might be, may well be relegated in a pursuit of health.
Science-based diet advice is set to become mainstream as, apparently, we become more willing to provide details of our genetic profiles. On a macro level, the benefits for a lower-cost health service for society is immense, and at an individual level we are likely to see health insurance separated to favour those who engage and act.
Urban farming used to come in the shape of back gardens and allotments. The Future Landscapesees this becoming reintegrated, partly a result of bottom-up community-driven interests, as well as top-down city food strategies. Energy conservation, carbon mitigation and emotional attachment are cited as key drivers and London is one of the leading proponents of this move. However, it is difficult to see this as significant when the challenges the world faces are so immense - every year the world population grows by 75 million (and almost 1 billion are undernourished).
The debate on GM has been widely aired and Europe remains sceptical. But the arguments in its favour - not least this growing world population - suggest it is only a matter of time.
Traditionally, food companies and retailers have sought to understand the consumer by analysing their behaviour and preferences but this, too, is set to change. New technology is enabling consumers and making them proactively seek out new connections. Sound far-fetched? Lego, that bastion of plastic bricks, harnessed more than 20,000 people in 79 countries to produce the innovative stream of new toys that have since come out of the company. If designer Lego, why not designer food? This idea of consumers being discoverers means that the our traditional view of food - often geographically rooted - may well be turned on its head. The idea of eating Indian, Spanish or Italian food becomes far less necessary, particularly as the freedom generates real innovation. Just think how pedestrian so much convenience food really is.
That the population is getting older is well documented what is less clear is what is going to happen to this key group. In this report, "Saga Louts", "Radical Wrinklies" and "New Adventurers" are all being cited as significant groupings of people with clear preferences and often money to follow them. They will lead where traditionally this sector has followed.
Most radical of all is the increasing likelihood that traditional proteins will be supplemented by cultured meat. The costs are still prohibitive but if I want the meat in my lasagne to be more satisfying, it is likely to be synthetic, cruelty-free, sustainable "beef".
I have long believed that frozen food has far more to offer than is generally realised. Too often this route is associated with cheaper food when taste tests prove the best food, carefully frozen, performs really impressively. Welcome to deep thaw. By 2020, freezing technology will be different and we are all likely to have induction heating in our kitchens which uses less energy and is much faster and more even.
Last, but dearest to many of our hearts, the sandwich is under threat. And about time, too. We stand in queues for half our lunch breaks, stuffing too many ingredients into baguettes we can barely fit in our mouths. This report suggests the sandwich is destined for a makeover to re-emerge in smaller, more convenient and more choice-driven formats. In addition, we will see tapas-style eating blossom as our nutri-driven decision-making interacts with our lunch before we have left our desks. harnold@irish-times.ie
The Future Landscape of Global Food and Drinkis available from www.bordbia.ie