Most of us don’t know how food is made. We don’t know much about what hamburgers ate when they were part of a cow, where the cow lived, or how it died. The same goes for wheat in bread or leaves in salads. The food system is a black box for most of us.
This disconnect is why farm-to-table has been so successful. It’s about us re-thinking food and considering the water, emissions, labor and care that goes into our meals.
Now I am totally in favor of this. But there is one area where it would be okay to hear a little about how our food is made. It is plant-based meat. I’m sure we need plant-based alternatives to animal products, but it seems like alternative protein companies sometimes get too caught up in the way these meats are made – the fiber rotation! Air fermentation! Strange shaped extrusion! Forget the taste.
I focus on food geeks. I am, after all, a WIRED reporter. But when I listen to the tech frenzy at food conferences, I have just one question: Is it delicious?
This is why I was so perplexed when someone offered to send me a bunch of 3D printed meat. an israeli company. However, it occurred to me that plant-based meat is doing poorly recently. Maybe so did Technological innovation is needed to advance to the next level. Plus, while 3D printing a steak is pretty cool, this test kit is apparently “quite expensive” and not yet available to the public. I asked my PR to send it to me.
Plant-based meat needs to be more than just a rumor, says Arik Kaufman, CEO of Steakholder Foods, the Israeli company that sent me the 3D-printed meat. “You have to eat amazing products,” he says. A stakeholder sent me a few different plant-based meats. There was a 3D printed white fish fillet, a 3D printed fillet steak, and a 3D printed marbled steak. There were also burgers and fish kebabs, neither of which were 3D printed. In a clear sign that the food of the future had arrived, the cuttings were packed in a medical shipping box filled with dry ice, which quickly filled my kitchen with fog.
floppy fish
The beauty of 3D printing food lies in creating delicious structures, Kaufman says. His company made two printers. One is for printing fish and the other is for cutting meat. Both use premixed ingredients. A meat printer can produce about 500 kg of plant-based meat per hour, while a fish printer can produce 100 kg per hour.
I cooked the white fish fillets as instructed in the pamphlet inside the box. Brush with oil and bake at 180°C (360°F) for 10 minutes. The fillets still looked a little pale after 10 minutes, so I let them sit a little longer until the tops had some color. I thought pan-searing the fillets would have added a better crust, but I was afraid they wouldn’t have the structural integrity to withstand flipping. Then my suspicions were confirmed when my fillets disintegrated while being moved between baking trays and plates. Floppy filets were topped with (vegan) lemon butter and caper sauce, sprinkled with parsley and served with couscous.
Kaufman says that 3D printing white fish can replicate the thin texture of fish flesh. It wasn’t my experience. When cooked, the outer skin of the fish becomes thin and flaky, but the inside of the fillet had a mousse-like texture and a slight fishy taste.
