BBC Food - Rise of the 'semi-vegetarians' 25 August 2012Last updated at 01:51 By Anna-Louise Taylor BBC Food Meat-free spaghetti bolognaise: Can you tell the difference? Sales of meat alternatives are increasing. But who is eating protein substitutes and why? "I find that I used to adore meat, but now a meat substitute burger does it for me, when I have it with onions and ketchup, it does the job. I guess it reminds me of the taste," David Finney admits. He turned his back on meat seven years ago, and uses meat alternatives for variety in his meals. Duncan Smith, a vegetarian for 19 years, says the versatility of the food makes it easy to eat with others. The UK market for meat-free products such as tofu, sausages, burgers, and imitation chicken fillets was most recently put at £786.5m a year, up 7.7% from five years earlier. But this boom in meat-free products is no longer being driven solely by vegetarians. So who is fuelling the rise? Continue reading the main story Who eats what: "Eating meat is something ingrained from childhood.
Il faut en finir avec la gabegie alimentaire Cet été, il a fait très chaud et sec aux Etats-Unis ; une sécheresse historique qui a touché 60 % du pays, et le Mexique. Les récoltes de maïs, de soja et de blé de l'un des plus grands greniers du monde seront mauvaises… Malheureusement, simultanément, un deuxième grenier du monde souffre de la sécheresse : la Russie, l'Ukraine et le Kazakhstan, tandis que la mousson s'est fait attendre en Inde, et que les récoltes européennes ont parfois été affaiblies par excès de pluie. C'est devenu une fâcheuse habitude au XXIe siècle : les années déficitaires en céréales sont dorénavant plus fréquentes que les années excédentaires ; on n'arrive pas à reconstituer des stocks dignes de ce nom et d'ailleurs on ne tente guère car ce n'est plus à la mode : le "moderne" maintenant, c'est la spéculation ! Cet hiver, que va-t-il se passer si le cours des céréales et du soja continue à flamber ? Alors, que faire, à part activer les débats citoyens sur ces questions ô combien fondamentales ?
Regional food analysis My absolute favorite kinds of presentations to give (even though they are by far the most work) are the one's I've been doing increasingly often, giving analyses of regional food security. I focus on both present and prospective food issues in a lower energy, less economically stable and warmer future. in them I set out both the historical crops and food source of the region, and what is currently produced there, and explore what steps a community or a bioregion might take to enhance their food security. I examine underutilized resources, and what else might be brought into play. Doing these talks or writing these reports is incredibly demanding but one of the most fun and fascinating things I've ever done. I did my first one for my own home region, and am still refining it as I get to know it more closely. Why do I do these? More importantly, however, almost no one does this kind of synthesis in any coherent manner. Sharon
» Future food for thought Our friends over at Institute for the Future in Palo Alto recently released a report to help people think about possible futures of food for the next decade. Four Futures of Food serves up a quartet of scenarios plotting out alternative descriptions of how America, as well as the wider world, could be eating in the year 02021. Each is based on a different trajectory that change could describe — Growth, Constraint, Collapse, or Transformation. In the Growth scenario, ‘Consumers can get practically anything they want, whenever they want, and without much concern for cost.’ In Constraint, a food poisoning outbreak triggers massive loss of confidence in internationally traded food and meat, as the global rallying cry becomes “Know your farmer. Collapse is a future in which previously ignored stresses on pollinator bee populations cross a critical threshold to cause widespread crop failure and scarcity. The four futures can be used not only descriptively, but also generatively, Dator realised.
Huge shift in what we eat "With 10 billion consumers eating a better diet than today, demand for food is likely to double by the 2060s." Image: Wicki58/iStockphoto This article was first published in The Canberra Times. The world diet in 2062 or 2112 will be as unfamiliar to most people today as our own cosmopolitan diet of fast food and ethnic cuisines would be to our great grandparents in 1912. With food-related diseases implicated in nearly half of all deaths across Australia and the world, our present ''killer diet'' is unlikely to last long, as society - and governments especially - awaken to its true costs. As transport fuels become scarce and costly, there will be a fresh focus on locally produced foods. While all that may sound a little ominous, the diet of the future will also be vastly more diverse, interesting, healthy, resource-efficient and creative. With 10 billion consumers eating a better diet than today, demand for food is likely to double by the 2060s. Farmed fish and algae Artificial meat
Cassava - big business in South Sudan Replacing imported barley with locally-grown cassava starch for beer brewing has created a market in South Sudan© SABMiller, OneRedEye/Jason Alden Two hours drive from South Sudan's main city of Juba, the Jujumbo Farmer Field School might seem an unlikely partner for one of Africa's leading brewing companies. But this well-organised group of 20 smallholders is among 2,000 South Sudanese farmers who from July 2012 will be selling their cassava crop to Southern Sudan Beverages Ltd (SSBL), part of the South Africa-based SABMiller drinks company. In so doing, and if all goes well, they will be providing a valuable illustration of how the private sector can become a key player in boosting small-farmer productivity. Replacing imported barley with locally-grown cassava starch for its beer brewing has created a market in South Sudan for a crop that in the past has been widely regarded as a poor man's food and an insurance against drought. Cassava champions Collective marketing
2012 Food Trends Get Technical Speculation on 2012′s food trends are everywhere, from the newest “ethnic flavors” to the next super berry. But more interesting are the ways experts see technology playing a role in the food industry and how it will help consumers in the marketplace. Over the past few weeks, Food+Tech Connect analyzed three important food+tech trends of 2011 and made predictions for 2012 about the evolution of recipe websites and publishing, the huge opportunities for technology in small scale meat production and distribution, and the drive to know more about where food comes from. Phil Lempert, CEO of The Lempert Report and known as the “Supermarket Guru,” also created an insightful and relevant list of predictions for 2012. Below is a summary and analysis of some of his ideas (#3 is missing, for example, as it was not directly tech related). To read his article in its entirety, see 2012 Food Trends to Watch. Trend #1 - Food Prices Trend #2 – Never Eat Alone Again We agree with Lempert’s prediction.
Cassava 'offers climate change hope' for Africa 28 February 2012Last updated at 11:58 Cassava performed best compared to potato, maize, bean, banana, millet, and sorghum The cassava plant could help African farmers cope with climate change, a scientific report says. "It's like the Rambo of the food crops," report author Andy Jarvis, of the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, said. He told the BBC: "Whilst other staples can suffer from heat and other problems of climate change, cassava thrives." The root crop is already one of the most widely consumed staple foods on the continent. But the report also stresses the need for more research to make cassava more resistant to pests and disease. Last November, UN scientists warned that a virus was attacking the crop, nearing an epidemic in parts of Africa. Viral infections have periodically wiped out the crop in some regions leading to famine. 'Fallback crop' Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteAndy JarvisInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture
Trends: Flavor Trends for 2012 The combination of the latest economic roller coaster and the directly opposing forces of indulgent eating and demands for healthier offerings turned the art of predicting food & beverage trends into a bigger challenge than ever. So it's helpful to frame the problem within the greater context of general trends that will impact the food & beverage market in the coming year. Last fall, Innova Market Insight identified 10 key trends that will underlie consumer choices in 2012. And while this list represents a great deal of dedicated research, it's possible to sum up the high points in a few sentences: Consumers are getting older but want to feel younger. They're attracted to "pure," "natural" foods that are premium in quality yet within their (much tighter) budget. There will be some niche markets that are hard to measure, such as gluten-free. "Even discounters are now looking for high quality products," he continues. Free Webcast: Flavor Trends for 2012