In Conversation With a Tomato. How Biotech Can Alter Our Relationship With The Food We Eat.

futurefood (63)in #health • 8 years ago

One of the main focus points that made me dive into the Future Food Documentary project had to do with my relation to food and the way it's produced. Simply put It felt as if there was not much of a relation. I go to markets, know what to get were. Then I go to supermarkets to get products that I can't get at the actual markets. My choices are based on what I can see. The main focus is based on the optical attraction
in regards to the products.

When I was rethinking this relationship I found that this was actually very superficial. I mean what can my eyes tell me by looking at a tomato? That it looks red, that the tomato has no bruises or fungi. That's about it. Then the motoric action follows, I pick up the tomato. How does it feel? Is it heavy enough, does it feel ripe enough? If all these parameters turn out positive I purchase the tomato. But again, what did I just
actually measured? The optical and physical appearances can easily be manipulated. It does not tell me anything about the core nutritional value of the tomato. I can't see, feel or even taste if the tomato was grown biological, if pesticides were used or what the fertility of the soil was when it was grown.

Just a couple of days ago Munchies aired a video which made me look at these aspects from a completely different point of view.

I'm more than fascinated by the way Japanese culture looks at the world humans live in and how humans can have the ability to relate to everything that surrounds them with a perspective that these things have souls them selfs. A rock has a soul, so does a tomato. But then there is also the relationship between the human and the rock or tomato. This relationship in itself has a soul as well. At least that's what I have picked up from my (not that comprehensive) research on Japanese culture. That's exactly the type of ethos that I find fascinating and worth exploring!

But what happens when you merge biotech into this relationship between the tomato and the human? What if this relationship turned more into a relation based on trust. I had to think of SCiO, a project by Consumer Physics. In 2014 they successful raised 2.5m for their SCiO molecular scanner. In short, this scanner allows you to scan food items and gives you all the details you need to know. There are some setbacks since the start of their project but it seems that this device will soon be available for consumers.

These two technological experiments should be combined. This combination would make it possible to have a much more informative relationship with the food we
consume. It would also provide for a more transparent context. Those in the position of providing food on a larger scale would become forced to look into what it is they are selling or growing. It would educate consumers in what it is they are eating. Based on this transparency we'de create a more meaningful relationship with food without the extreme efforts that people have to go through these days. That red shiny tomato your thinking of buying would simply tell you that it might not feel that well today due to a minor deficiency in the soil. "I'm still very tasty, but perhaps you want to add some
paprika to your stew to raise the amount of Vitamine C in your dish".

Obviously, I'm aware of the utopian vibes this theory is drenched in. Yet utopia's can be seen as higher goals which might even be very beneficial if they turn out as a
reality lets say 60%.