The future of food: Anyone for 3D printed pizzas or lab grown burgers?

When it comes to food in 2014, we’re all pretty spoilt.

For the majority of us, food is no longer just a mode of sustenance but a hobby, a passion, something that we can have fun with.

'In the 1960s, food was seen as a way of getting enough energy to go about your day,' explains Dr Morgaine Gaye, Food Futurologist and Director of bellwether: Food Trends.

'Families spent 80 per cent of their income just on food. Compared to that, we’re very lucky to be able to see food as entertainment.'

In the 70s and 80s, we started to enjoy playing with our food when we hosted fondue parties or bought our first Breville.

But hey, this is the 21st century and with all the technological advances we’ve seen over the last 30 years, we can do a bit better than a homemade ham and cheese toastie.

Molecular gastronomy and 3D food printing might sound like something out of Star Wars but thanks to ever-changing methods and machinery, it won’t be too long before our kitchens start to resemble science labs.

With chefs like Heston Blumenthal pioneering the use of liquid nitrogen, dry ice and spherification (turning your food into a caviar-like substance) in their dishes, the time has come to take a closer at these eccentric inventions.

Here are just a few of the weird and wonderful food innovations that you might be munching on in the not too distant future.

Sous vide

The sous vide method of cooking isn’t new – it’s been around since the late 18th century. Although it sounds very complicated (and French) it simply involves placing your food in an air-tight bag then immersing it in a water bath and maintaining the ideal temperature using an immersion circulator.

‘It’s a way to make your own boil in the bag,’ explains Dr Gaye. ‘You can definitely see it catching on and becoming the new dinner party gadget.’

Fans reckon it’ll cook the best steak and ribs you’ve ever had but it can be used for pretty much anything from poached eggs to custard. It has generally been confined to the kitchens of expert chefs and food obsessives, until now. Three foodie friends launched a Kickstarter project back in 2012 to help raise funds to create Nomiku – the first budget-friendly immersion circulator that would allow amateur food fans to recreate these amazing recipes at home.

They reached their $200,000 target within 11 days and have since gone on to raise nearly $600,000. Currently available in the US, the Nomiku retails at $299 so don’t be surprised if it makes its way across the pond in the near future.

Molecular gastronomy

Why eat a boring old sandwich with delicious smoked bacon and soft white bread when you can turn the meat into bacon-flavoured foam and have it with bread ice cream? If this sounds completely bonkers then you clearly haven’t been acquainted with molecular gastronomy. A

lso known as ‘deconstructivist’ style cooking, molecular gastronomy was made famous in the UK by none other than Heston Blumenthal. Award-winning chef Heston uses scientific methods and equipment to deconstruct and reimagine traditional foods and dishes into something fit for Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Liquid nitrogen, syringes and spherification are all utilized to make a meal unlike any you’ve ever seen before.

‘It’s pure entertainment,’ explains Dr Gaye. ‘It’s another way to make food a creative pastime and about as far away as you can get from the way your grandparents or even your parents used to eat.’ And now you can try it for yourself thanks to catering company, Ultraviolet.

Yahoo Lifestyle tried out some of its more bizarre concoctions (squid pancetta, coffee air and apple snow anyone?) and what these guys can do with a cocktail will blow your mind. Our personal favourite was the Apple Pie pop made on an anti-griddle, sprayed with a vodka mist and topped off with a dehydrated apple crisp.  It’s available now for events so why not bring a bit of liquid nitrogen to your next party?

[Five health benefits of aphrodisiacs]

[The perfect food clock - the six times a day you should be eating]

3D printing

Over the last few years, 3D printing has stepped out of the pages of science fiction and found its way into real life. From printing out plastic toys to synthetic organs, the technology has developed rapidly and now it’s coming to your kitchen.

‘3D printing is everywhere so it’s only a matter of time before it ends up in the home,’ claims Dr Gaye. Spanish company Natural Machines has created Foodini, a machine that sits on your kitchen counter and ‘prints’ out your food.

You load it up with your chosen mixture, program the recipe you want it to follow and the machine will build up the dish layer by layer. Whereas previous food printers were limited to simple ingredients like sugar or chocolate, the Foodini can create pretty much anything – from pastas and pizzas to burgers and brownies.

Although it sounds like a step away from fresh food, Natural Machines actually posit the Foodini as a convenient way to make healthy food. Who has the time to make their own fresh ravioli, they argue. The Foodini takes the fiddly bits out of cooking, thus making fresh and healthy food easier. Priced at £835, the Foodini is due to hit online shelves in the second half of 2014.

In-vitro meat

In August 2013, Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University invited a live London audience to taste a £250,000 burger. The hefty price tag wasn’t down to caviar or a rare cheese topping. The meat itself was synthetic beef, grown using a cow’s stem cells.

Three thousand strips of artificial meat were assembled to make a burger patty with a difference. Not only is this a viable meat-alternative for ethical vegetarians, the possibility that just one cow’s cells could be used to make millions of burgers or steaks could have far-reaching ecological effects.

‘Synthetic meat is really interesting because there are a number of issues at play,’ says Dr Gaye. ‘Yes, it is playing God but then so is the use of GM crops. There’s definitely a place for lab-grown meat in the future.’ It might sound like something from a Phillip K. Dick novel but Professor Post reckons we could see synthetic meat on supermarket shelves with five to 10 years.