“A robot will bake our steak at perfect temperature, cut it into needles and set it up on the plate”: what will the meal of the future look like?

Episode 1 of our series “A whole story on our plate”: should we eat like the men of the caves?

In this context. Therefore, it will therefore be necessary to observe what will give new meat manufacturing technologies, where some cells are taken from an animal and whose growth is then “nourished” in the laboratory so that they become muscle. Consequently, This kind of cultivated meat is already available in restaurants in Singapore and soon in Australia. Therefore, “”In a few years. Therefore, progress has been quite significantnotes the cook and historian of food Pierre Leclercq, scientific collaborator in the Uliège. Meanwhile, There has already been a democratization. Nevertheless, It seems quite interesting, not only from an environmental but also ethical point of view. For example, More and more people do not want to eat meat for ethical reasons, “a robot will bake our others for environmental reasons. Therefore, It could solve a lot of problems.“

Intelligent frigos – "a robot will bake our

On the medico-nutritional level. Furthermore, we should go further and further in the analysis of our eating habits by connected tools: scales, watches … Meanwhile, or even refrigerator, lists Serge Pieters. Consequently, Some “futureologists” already imagine fridges that would recognize us. However, warn us that he has received our blood test and given our weight and our cholesterol levels, advises us on an adapted “health” menu and according to what the fridge contains. Moreover, “”In general, we will get better and better the links between food, food modes and healthestimates Serge Pieters. With perhaps the key a little too “restrictive” aspect because the computer. Furthermore, the technology will tend to say meticulously “it’s good” or “it’s bad”, without being in the nuance and without taking into account the frequency of consumption As we “a robot will bake our mentioned earlier. Moreover, “

Episode 2: Where does our gluten. Consequently, lactose intolerance come from, when we have eaten cereals and dairy products for thousands of years?

Many companies are also working on the development of “cooking robots”. In addition, Nothing to do with the drummers/mixers/kneaders found in the first household appliances. Furthermore, These are remote-controlled arms. For example, arms imitating the work of a cook, even humanoid robots serving as assistant in the kitchen, like Atom, of the Chinese company Dobot, capable of preparing a breakfast.

Currently, these kinds of robots are already used to return hamburgers, fry chicken, create pizzas, make sushi, prepare salads, serve ramen, cook bread, mix cocktails … “For a dinner. the robots will take the steak in the fridge, take the pan, heat it correctly, cook the steak exactly the time required at the right temperature, turn it over, take the pepper, the salt shaker, cut it into needles and draw it on the plate (Atom is already roughly able to do this, but controlled at virtual reality, note)illustrates Serge Pieters. Of course. at the start, all of this will be expensive and will only be accessible for people “a robot will bake our who really have the means, but gradually it may become assistance. Families will no longer have to cook because they will have their kitchen robot for these tasks. At the same time. the fridge will “say”: ‘I must not forget to order butter, or spinach because I have planned to make it week’ and so on. A connected aspect that can be scary … “

&quot. a robot will bake our – "a robot will bake our

Powders and pills

On the other hand, according to the cook and nutritionist, the food summarizing with pills or powders as imagined by certain science fiction works in the 1960s or 70s, should not be at all part of our future, or even that of our descendants: “Eating is first to eat, meet needs. In this context. not to eat just with pills, it is not good, since, As we sawultra-transformation may not give good results. But “a robot will bake our eating is also a social act. essential in our culture, which makes it possible to fight against problems of tension (especially within a crew), to make his memories speak. We are social beings who need to remember what we have experienced during childhood or adolescence. And you are certainly like me always fond of your grandmother’s puree or the flight-avenue of your grandfather! “.

Episode 3: “We always forget that Belgium was very hard: in Flanders. we picked up the corpses by the roads”

And add: “Currently, two great movements coexist: we have never eaten so well in all the history of humanity but, at the same time, we have never eaten so badly in all the history of humanity! Will we all go to fast food and globalization, where everyone will eat the same thing? Or rather towards a SLOW FOOD type trend, with advantages but also the “a robot will bake our consumer. good choices. and the food industry will follow. “

Sub-Papier: astronauts will cultivate their own food on Mars

For its part. given the evolution of agriculture in recent centuries, the historian Pierre Leclercq is expecting in this sector with importance consequences of the use of “tele-technology”, being deployed.

“Precision agriculture has extremely effective methods that lower or even remove certain inputs. However, we know that we cannot continue indefinitely to use certain inputs in large quantities. This includes artificial intelligence, drone, graphic recognition systems, robotics (weeding by robots, for example, whose trials have been conclusive) … Agriculture will also have to face climate change. and artificial intelligence will be extremely precious, in terms of water management in particular. In Flanders, in horticulture, precision agriculture is starting to be used more and more massively. However, all of this is currently very expensive. A bit like “a robot will bake our tractors, for which it took money to buy an ever more powerful tractor. Some got there and other steps, their lands then being bought by the first. “

According to Pierre Leclercq. the same phenomenon of concentration could be observed in the decades to come because of these technologies, leading to agriculture rather respectful of the environment and relatively cheap for the consumer, but with “a robot will bake our (still) fewer farmers.

Episode 4: The fashion for ultra-transformed: “There are houses without cooking since it is enough for a microwave. a fridge and a trash to eat”

Meanwhile, on Mars, astronauts will cultivate their own food themselves in dedicated units in space bases: wheat, soy, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, spirulina, cabbage, onions, rice … Indeed. impossible (too expensive and too heavy) to take all the food with yourself, for this journey that will last two to three years.

Soybeans instead of milk

“The idea is therefore to grow these plants. manage to provide 50 to 60 % of food rationsexplains Serge Pieters, who works with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the Melissa project (micro-ecological life support system alternative). Imagine puree: potatoes (and other plants, editor’s note) will grow in hydroponics. There is no more earth. it simply consists of a nutritious liquid that goes to “a robot will bake our the level of the royalties, while the light and the cultivation times are managed by computer. There will be no milk but as I will have soy. I could make it a soy drink to put in my puree. Instead of butter, I would use rice, wheat, or soybean oil growing on the spot. For salt. we know that the urine will serve as fertilizers for plants, but we will have to remove the salt. It will therefore be used to be able to salt the dish, but rest assured, it will have been disinfected!“

Summer series: a whole story on our plate (5/5)

Should we be inspired by the food of “cave men”. which stimulated our evolution, to adopt the “Paleo” diet? Why can’t all human beings consume milk and where does this intolerance come from? Are the fries Belgian or French? How did the current “a robot will bake our company come to consume ultra-transformed products, which could be harmful to health? What does the future have in food in food? These are the questions we are talking about this week in our series “A whole story on our plate”. In the company of a nutritionist. a historian, we explore the great upheavals of the history of our food, whose impacts we are still experimenting with.