Adjiedj Bakas on how we will eat tastily, healthily and sustainably in the 21st century
Grass burgers and banana aspirin: future trends
Vegetable as a word is definitely something of the past, says Bakas. “The word vegetable is awfully silly. If people talk about vegetables, they do so in a negative context. That it is boring and something your mother forced down your throat.” Is the sector doomed then? By no means, says Bakas. "It really is the word itself. Vegetable is negative, but the word salad is positive. People associate it with trendy, healthy, fresh and nutritious. The word is practically used for all vegetables nowadays. All you need to do is change the name."
The age of Tylenol is over, claims Bakas. You have a headache? Eat a banana. "Research shows that women who eat a lot of mushrooms are less likely to get breast cancer. And that the vitamins are in the skin of the potato. That kind of knowledge, that is coming back to our every-day conscious. We make ourselves ill with what we eat. With too much sugar, too many carbohydrates and too much alcohol. In the future we’ll be much more concerned with these things.”
"You help prevent disease through healthy eating. With the increasing costs of healthcare it’s something we simply must consider. Insurance companies in particular will be closely monitoring our eating habits.” How closely? Well, very, as it turns out: “If we won’t keep them posted through a self-administered questionnaire, it will be through a chip in your body,” predicts Bakas. "The insurer controls everything. Who did what? That’s how it will be.”
And what about eating grass? “People need to switch to another product, move away from meat. And grass, that’s just the thing. Indirectly we consume kilos of the stuff. The only thing that needs to happen is that we take the cow out of the chain. Grass burgers, grass on a sandwich, but then mixed with egg and so on. I think it’s a great idea.”
