FROM GETTING TO work via flying car to 3D-printing your dinner, there are a lot of ways that tech could change your life in the future. But how likely would you be to adopt these tech advances, and to make them a part of your daily routines?

In a new series, Future Real, we’re partnering with Volkswagen to spotlight technologies of the future, with a different theme each time. As you read, we’ll ask you to rate how likely you’d really be to use each one in your everyday life.

This week: would you eat these tech-led foods of the future?

THE ADVANCEMENT OF technology and science over the years has hugely impacted the type of food we consume on a daily basis. 

Consumers can pick up a whole host of fresh, frozen and processed foods to sustain and satisfy them, no matter what their budget, taste or dietary requirements.

Not to mention the variety of devices you can use to chop and cook these ingredients or the abundance of restaurants and fast food places now available. Setting the oven to pre-heat via an app on your phone while you’re still on the bus, using a food processor to perfectly chop your veg, or ordering a family feast online at the tap of a button – all of that would have seemed baffling 30 or 40 years ago.

That’s the situation right now, but what’s coming down the line? What types of food products are likely to be lining the shelves of supermarkets in years to come – and how likely would you be to give them a try?

Here are five foods that could be on your (3D-printed) dinner plate in the future.

1. Protein-packed insect kebabs

For those who eat meat, there’s often nothing better than tucking into a juicy steak or a delicious piece of chicken. Some people eat animal meat for protein, others simply for the taste, but what if we were to give insects a go instead? 

The insect protein market could be worth $8 billion (€7.3 billion) by 2030, according to Business Insider. 

Entomophagy – the technical term for eating insects – is the norm in many places in Africa, Asia and Australia. This is not just due to their taste, but to the fact that insects are usually affordable and pack a lot of nutrition. For example, crickets contain about 65g of protein for every 100g. 

In fact, around two billion people the world over already regularly eat bugs. It’s definitely not as popular in Western countries, but some grocery chains (like Sainsburys in the UK) already stock insect-based items, and it’s a trend you’re likely to see a lot more of.

The types of insects most commonly consumed right now are beetles, caterpillars, bees and grasshoppers. Whether you would be interested in cricket cookies or grasshopper kebabs – yes, all real recipes – this could be a more sustainable protein option for those looking to cut down on their animal meat intake.

2. Healthy 3D-printed food (that genuinely tastes good)

Currently, 3D-printed food is made by filling up a container inside the device with a food paste. This then gets pushed out in layers, much like anything else that’s 3D-printed, be it a ball bearing or a prosthetic limb.

This approach only currently works with foods that can be turned into a paste such as pancake batter, mashed potatoes or chocolate. It’s not a catch-all solution yet, but researchers like Jonathan Blutinger of Creative Machines Lab believes that before long, a 3D printer could be as common place in kitchens as a microwave.

“The technology is almost there,” he told 3D Natives. The challenges lies in developing tech to create 3D-printed food in a variety of textures, so that you could be just as likely to 3D print a vegetable casserole as a weekend pancake stake.

3. A Sunday fry-up with lab-grown rashers

Lab-grown meats are already in the works and will likely be available to buy in the future. As more people turn towards plant-based diets and seek out vegan alternatives for their favourite foods, this choice will likely be an exciting for many. 

Scientists at the University of Bath announced in March of this year that they had already succeeded in growing animal cells on blades of grass in a laboratory.

If this product could be reproduced on an industrial scale, consumers of the future could be able to buy rashers grown entirely in a lab from pig cells. 

Making this happen would involve taking a biopsy of an animal, isolating their stem cells, growing more of these cells and then putting them into a bioreactor to expand them into muscle fibres.

These fibres could then be used to produce bacon or a burger – all without killing the animal whose cells were used to make the product. 

However, it will take time and research to get the same meaty taste and texture so it may take a while before a close replica is created. 

4. Dinners crafted to suit your DNA

Nutrigenomics is the study of the relationship between nutrients, diets and genetic makeup – using gene cells to discover more about the amount of nutrients a person’s body may require compared to other people. 

The development of this area depends on the available technologies for processing large data sets relating to gene variant.

Eileen Gibney, Associate Professor at UCD’s School of Agriculture and Food Science explains that people metabolise food in different ways due to their gene variants – and that the food people eat has the ability to influence their metabolism. 

“There are research projects into this area that have shown it can be beneficial and a number of companies have begun to consider nutrigenomics as an option,” Gibney tells TheJournal.ie. 

If people were interested in getting nutrition advice based on their genes, it would likely involve receiving a cheek swab and letting scientists test five or six genes to understand which nutrients the person may require more or less of due to the particular variations in their genes. 

The patient could then receive nutrition advice and even supplements based on this knowledge. 

This nutrition possibility is one part of a wider sector examining nutrition requirements through genes, age, gender and a whole host of other variants. 

“At the moment, the evidence is based on a limited number of nutrients,” says Gibney. “We haven’t gotten to a point where we can offer this to the public yet.”

We could use the gene data in a better way to offer more correct dietary advice – technology can help in other ways in measuring physical activity and sleep and all sorts of other aspects of life.

If the area of nutrigenomics develops further and genes could be used to discover a personalised nutrition plan, would you be interested?

The future is nearer than you think. The countdown is on to witness the exclusive world premiere of Volkswagen’s all-electric ID.3. Learn more at Volkswagen.ie/ID.