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Title details for Technically Food by Larissa Zimberoff - Available

Technically Food

Inside Silicon Valley's Mission to Change What We Eat

by Larissa Zimberoff
ebook
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"In a feat of razor-sharp journalism, Zimberoff asks all the right questions about Silicon Valley's hunger for a tech-driven food system. If you, like me, suspect they're selling the sizzle more than the steak, read Technically Food for the real story." —Dan Barber, the chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Eating a veggie burger used to mean consuming a mushy, flavorless patty that you would never confuse with a beef burger. But now products from companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Eat Just, and others that were once fringe players in the food space are dominating the media, menus in restaurants, and the refrigerated sections of our grocery stores. With the help of scientists working in futuristic labs––making milk without cows and eggs without chickens––start-ups are creating wholly new food categories. Real food is being replaced by high-tech.

Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley's Mission to Change What We Eat by investigative reporter Larissa Zimberoff is the first comprehensive survey of the food companies at the forefront of this booming business. Zimberoff pokes holes in the mania behind today's changing food landscape to uncover the origins of these mysterious foods and demystify them. These sometimes ultraprocessed and secretly produced foods are cheered by consumers and investors because many are plant-based—often vegan—and help address societal issues like climate change, animal rights, and our planet's dwindling natural resources. But are these products good for our personal health?

Through news-breaking revelations, Technically Food examines the trade-offs of replacing real food with technology-driven approximations. Chapters go into detail about algae, fungi, pea protein, cultured milk and eggs, upcycled foods, plant-based burgers, vertical farms, cultured meat, and marketing methods. In the final chapter Zimberoff talks to industry voices––including Dan Barber, Mark Cuban, Marion Nestle, and Paul Shapiro––to learn where they see food in 20 years.

As our food system leaps ahead to a sterilized lab of the future, we think we know more about our food than we ever did. But because so much is happening so rapidly, we actually know less about the food we are eating. Until now.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 1, 2021

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781683359913

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781683359913
      • File size: 1454 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 12, 2021
      Journalist Zimberoff debuts with a breezy and informative survey of the food-tech industry, noting both the promise and perils of the innovations that are changing the way people eat. The motivations for companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which manufacture plant-based burgers, are subject to a complicated balancing act, she notes: they may have idealistic goals (reversing climate change and ending animal suffering), but “money and investors are still behind it all,” which may work against their aims to make the world a better place. The ideal situation, she writes, is a food system that is good for people, the planet, and business. Algae, for example, is touted as potentially checking all three boxes, but the science is still out on the health benefits, and harvesting methods can be energy-intensive. Predictions from 21 experts (chefs, writers, chemists) on what dietary habits will look like in 20 years round things out; some say less meat, some say more. Zimberoff excels at making complex issues accessible, and she leavens her survey with dashes of dry humor, as when discussing the prospect of mealworms as a staple protein source: “Well, not everything deserves to become the next soybean.” Anyone curious about the future of food should give this a look.

    • Library Journal

      May 1, 2021

      This fascinating overview of efforts to create a sustainable, cruelty-free meat substitute will take a well-deserved place on the shelf alongside works such as Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and Mary Roach's Gulp. Zimberoff, a type-one diabetic who is keenly aware of how food is grown and processed, takes readers inside various labs creating substitutions for meat and animal products. These tech-based enterprises use mycelium, plant proteins, or other secret, patented technologies to reinvent beef, chicken, milk, and more. Zimberoff also outlines the attempt to create meat made from cultured animal cells--grown in a lab, but genetically identical to a cow or chicken. Along the way, she poses questions about the sustainability, practicality, health benefits, and all-important taste of the products that these companies hope will transform the way people eat. The impact of agribusiness on this emerging market also receives some attention. VERDICT An engaging, thorough examination of the transformation of the food industry as it relates to sustainability and creating alternatives to the slaughterhouse. Highly recommended.--Rebecca Brody, Westfield State Univ., MA

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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