The Future of Food

Foods from the Sea 
Eating more foods grown in salt water environments solves two problems, the need for 
more space to produce food by getting off land, and the need for fresh water. Sure we’re 
in the middle of dumping massive amounts of plastic in the ocean. However, both salt and 
fresh water fish can be raised in tanks or man-made ponds. At the moment, the costs of 
production are not competitive for some species but for others aquaculture is quite 
common. Tilapia, catfish, and carp are commonly produced this way already. Some kinds 
of shellfish are from farms are easy to find in local markets, and are often grown off of 
platforms in coastal areas. In other cases, cages built in coastal areas allow deep water 
fishes like salmon to be produced in mass quantities. 
We also in the west don’t consume much seaweed, but it’s an important vegetable type in 
Asia and in a lot of northern cultures. There are a handful of important seaweed varieties 
for food, including kelp, nori and wakame. Ireland is one of the places promoting their 
seaweed industry, but the vast majority of aquaculture production is in China, while the 
largest wild harvest is in Chile. A lot of seaweed produced is used as an industrial input 
into other goods, such as caregeenan, which is used as a thickener. Seaweeds 
are extremely nutritious and require no fresh water or land-based soils for production. 
They are amenable to farming techniques and are delicious. 

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Insects 
Cricket powder for human consumption.
Insects form an important part of the diet of peoples in different parts of the world, 
from crickets in Mexico, to grubs in Africa. Currently, one of the main ways in which 
insects are being used is as a powdered form blended with cereal flours to make protein-
enhanced baked goods. To produce the equivalent amount of protein, insects require six 
times less feed than cattle, and four times less feed than sheep. They produce fewer 
emissions and can be grown on food scraps that would otherwise be wasted.