A Closer Look at Food Technology
OUTSIDE READING
Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat
by John McQuaid
Scribner, January 2015
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist John McQuaid explains how our sense of taste has evolved and how advances in biology and genetics could shape future flavors.
Food Industry Design, Technology and Innovation
by Helmut Traitler, Birgit Coleman, and Karen Hofmann
Wiley-Blackwell, November 2014
Food companies should think about applying design to more areas of business than just packaging, say Helmut Traitler, Nestlé’s former vice president of innovation partnerships, and two other experts in business and product design.
“Changes in Eating Patterns and Diet Quality Among Working-Age Adults, 2005–2010”
by Jessica Todd
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, January 2014
This economic report from the USDA highlights changes in Americans’ eating habits and diet quality during the most recent economic recession.
“The Problem with Fake Meat”
by Corby Kummer
MIT Technology Review, March/April 2015
Fake meat could be healthier and better for the environment. But can the taste stand up to the real thing?
The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches from the Future of Food
by Josh Schonwald
Harper, April 2012
On a mission to find out what food will be like 20 years from now, journalist Josh Schonwald visits scientific labs, checks out famous chef Alice Waters’s “microfarm,” and explores the new role that technologies such as genetic engineering could play in feeding the world’s growing population.
The Future Market
(website)
What will a grocery store look like in 2065? New York–based consultancy Studio Industries plans to open a pop-up supermarket this summer to show how technologies like hydroponic gardens, cultured meats, and biodegradable packaging could one day shape store design.
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
by Michael Moss
Random House Trade Paperbacks, reprint edition, February 2014
Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Michael Moss uncovers how the processed-food industry—a trillion-dollar business in the United States—formulates and markets foods, manipulating their sugar, salt, and fat content to keep people coming back for more. This best-selling book won the James Beard Foundation Award for Writing and Literature last year.
“The End of Food”
by Lizzie Widdicombe
The New Yorker, May 2014
The latest food craze in Silicon Valley doesn’t resemble food at all. It’s Soylent, a powdered drink mix designed to eliminate the hassle of making food by providing all the nutrients that people need to survive. The author explains how Soylent evolved from an experiment in three young entrepreneurs’ San Francisco apartment to a consumer product, and she tries it out for herself.
“Why We Will Need Genetically Modified Foods”
by David Rotman
MIT Technology Review, January/February 2014
The world’s population is on track to grow by 38 percent by 2050, and climate change is making it harder to feed the planet. In this cover story, MIT Technology Review’s editor, David Rotman, explains how genetically modified foods can help.
The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth about Flavor and Food
by Mark Schatzker
Simon & Schuster, May 2015
Fresh food has been losing flavor and nutrients for more than 50 years, says journalist Mark Schatzker. Now people are turning to processed foods that
re-create those flavors without the nutritional benefits that foods once provided naturally.
CALENDAR
12th International Congress on Engineering and Food
June 14–18, 2015
Quebec City, Quebec
icef12.com/
Fifth International Conference on Food Studies
September 18–19, 2015
Blacksburg, Virginia
food-studies.com/the-conference
James Beard Foundation Food Conference
October 19–20, 2015
New York
www.jamesbeard.org/education/conference/live
The Global Food Safety Conference
March 1–3, 2016
Berlin
www.tcgffoodsafety.com/
14th Annual Global Food Technology & Innovation Summit
March 2–3, 2016
London
www.foodinnovate.com/event-agenda/programme-2015/
IUFoST 2016: 18th World Congress of Food Science and Technology
August 21–25, 2016
Dublin
www.iufost2016.com/dates.html
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