With the practices of meatless Mondays and sustainable eating growing in popularity, it begs to question if the the way we consume food is evolving out of necessity. That is the premise of restauranteur David Chang‘s new show, The Next Thing You Eat.
Speaking with ABC Audio, Chang says the new series takes a hard look at the future of food and the challenges ahead.
“Everybody wants to eat more delicious things,” the chef acknowledged, but warned changes are needed to keep up with the rising demand. “By the year 2050, we’re not going to have enough protein to feed the world.”
Chang sees a potential solution in utilizing lab grown protein and tried synthetic salmon to see how it measured up to wild caught fish.
“It was really good,” he marveled and admitted “it melted my brain” to realize what he had on his plate was the product of sustainable science — not fishing.
“We have the ability to recreate [meat] in a way that does almost no damage and there’s no suffering,” the Eat a Peach author continued, but recognized that not everyone will be as willing to make the switch. “If it allows people to eat better fish more affordably, why would you be against that?”
Chang added that the technology can do far more than grow salmon and remarked, “We’re at that point where you can eat potentially anything.”
“The problem is, can it become cost effective?,” Chang added, leaving that questioned to be explored in his new show, The Next Thing You Eat, which is streaming now on Hulu.
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