Welcome to your weekly Food Tech News round-up, where we gather interesting pieces of news you might have missed this week:
Edible artwork is now growing at the Gagosian gallery in New York City
A small, but fully functional, indoor urban farm is now on display at the Gagosian Gallery’s New York City location. The installation, created by artist Linda Goode Bryant and architect Elizabeth Diller, is a part of the “Social Works” exhibit (curated by Antwaun Sargent). The exhibit aims to showcase the relationship between different spaces, like personal, institutional, public, and psychic spaces, and Black social practice. The indoor farm exhibit, called Are we really that different?, features a 40-foot-tall structure in a long hallway that houses plants. Given water and nutrients through dripping IV pouches, the plants receive sunlight through skylights in the gallery. The plants consist of edible flowers and vegetables that are harvested daily for visitors to munch on. The exhibit is on display now until August 13, 2021.
Snack brand uses regenerative cover crop as its main ingredient
Chasin Dreams Farm produces a flavored popcorn-like snack, but instead of using corn, sorghum is the main ingredient in the product. Sorghum is a grain that is drought-resilient, and the company sources its sorghum from farms using regenerative practices. Additionally, sorghum is a cover crop that can be planted after other crops have been harvested to protect the soil from erosion, smother weeds, and add healthy, organic matter to the soil. Chasin Dreams Farm currently has three flavors, Sweet & Salty, Cocoa, and Cinnamon. According to the company, its popped sorghum snacks have around 94 percent less fat than traditional popcorn snacks. Currently raising money on Republic, Chasin Dreams Farm has already met its goal by 171 percent with 61 days left in the campaign.
Scientists discover that microorganisms in the stomach’s of ruminants can help break down plastic
Plastic is a problem due to its negative environmental and health impacts, and despite the fact that humans were the ones that created it, we are always trying to find new solutions to replace it, get rid of it, upcycle it, or break it down in a sustainable manner. A group of scientists from various universities recently discovered that particular microbes found in the stomachs of ruminants can actually help break down certain types of plastic. Ruminants like cows consume a naturally occurring polyester that is produced by plants, called cutin. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the type of plastic typically used to make soda bottles and food packaging, and it has a similar chemical structure to cutin.
Due to this, researchers hypothesized that microbes found in the rumen (the largest part of a ruminant’s stomach) could break down PET and other polyesters in the same manner that cutin was broken down. To test this, the scientists placed different plastics in rumen liquid for one to three days. It was found that the rumen liquid broke down PET, polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and polyethylene furanoate (PEF), with the bacteria-rich liquid breaking down PEF the most effectively.
Optimist: a plastic and alcohol-free spirit
To accommodate the rise of adults looking to cut back on alcohol consumption or be sober, there has been an influx of “alcohol-free” spirits hitting the market. One of these brands, Optimist, has developed three botanical-infused, alcohol-free spirits, completely free from plastic. Intended to be a direct replacement for alcohol spirits, Optimist can be drunk straight up, on the rocks, or mixed into a cocktail. The spirits contain 10-15 botanical distillates, with three different flavors available: Bright (lemony and light, drinks like vodka), Fresh (full of herbs, drinks like a botanical gin), and Smokey (flavors of wood and spice, drinks like a tequila). Both the bottle and cap of the spirits are made from glass, and plastic is intentionally not used in any part of the production, packaging, or distribution process. A 16.9 oz bottle of Optimist is available for $35 on the company’s website.
