Food Science and Engineering for the Future of Humanity

Food is essential. Food is a human right. And, food is poetically magical. Yet, our global food system is not sustainable. I firmly believe and advocate that food scientists, engineers, and professionals can and should lead the way in advancing our global food system to feed the world’s population sustainably.

Our Intimate Relationship with Food

Our intimate and special relationship with food starts as soon as we come to life. As Danny Meyer beautifully articulated, within moments of being born, we receive four gifts of life: eye contact, a smile, a hug, and some food. These gifts are not only foundational to nurture but also for connecting and bonding, fundamental human needs. Therefore, for the rest of our lives, we crave those gifts.

Food is essential for our survival and well-being. We cannot sustain our lives without it. When we have readily available food, we take its essentiality for granted. We feel hungry, eat some food, and move on to the next thing on our list. However, the absence of food is tough, very tough. Food is essential.

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him—he has known a fear beyond every other. – John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath) Food is also a human right. The right to food is documented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as part of the right to an adequate standard of living. It is enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966). This legal and moral framing underscores societies' obligation to ensure no one goes hungry and everyone has access to adequate food. Food is a human right.

We need to create a world where everyone has access to enough nutritious food sourced sustainably

 

Food is magical. Living far from my hometown, whenever I feel homesick, I open up the can of olives from the pantry and close my eyes while taking a deep smell. That instantly transports me to the breathtakingly beautiful and sunny Aegean coasts of Anatolia, Asia Minor. Food not only lets you travel across geographies but also across times. The phenomenon, known as the Proust effect, refers to the magic of food to trigger vivid memories. Marcel Proust (hence the name for the phenomenon) beautifully narrates how flavors and aromas are interwoven into our treasured memories in In Search of Lost Time, through the taste of a madeleine dipped in tea. Food is magical.

Global Food System is not Sustainable

Food is such an integral part of our lives, yet our global food system is not sustainable. I use the word ‘sustainable’ not only in the environmental sense but also in the sense of being functional. Our food system does not meet the needs of today’s world population. Currently, over 800 million people (10 percent of the world’s population) are impacted by hunger, and 2.3 billion people are affected by food insecurity. Meanwhile, we waste and lose 30 percent of global food production every year, equivalent to about $1 trillion, which is 1 percent of the world's entire GDP. Our global food system is also responsible for 25-30 percent of total carbon emissions, more than the impact of all the cars we drive and all the planes we fly. It is also the primary driver for biodiversity loss on our blue marble planet due to the expansion of agricultural land through deforestation. Moreover, with the world population estimated to increase by 25 percent by 2050, we will need 30-40 percent more food to be produced, while the arable land is projected to grow only by a mere 4.5 percent.

This very high-level overview simply yet very clearly demonstrates that our global food system is not working and needs to advance.

 A Better Future

We want a world where everyone has access to enough nutritious food sourced sustainably. We can get there from where we are today only with the guiding light of science and technology because science is humble, self-correcting, and has a proven record. Science has always led breakthrough advancements, exemplified during the pre-Socratic era in Ionia, the Islamic Golden Age, the Renaissance and Humanism, reaching a climax with the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Food science efforts have already started showing promising results, such as plant-based protein alternatives with much less environmental impact. Similarly, the use of nanotechnology encapsulating nutrients enables food scientists to achieve better levels of nutrient absorption levels by our metabolisms. This improves the efficacy of nutrients available in foods, which can help with our need for more food in the coming decades. Smart packaging solutions, labels, and blockchain technology are set to minimize food waste by providing more information and transparency in the entire food supply chain. Who will lead the charge? For breakthrough advancements in solving the problems of our global food system, science and technology are our HOW, while food scientists, engineers, and professionals are our WHO to lead the way.

The global food system is overly complex. Solving such complex problems requires multi-faceted solutions. Therefore, many players and stakeholders will play crucial roles in solving this complex problem, such as governments (through policies, legislations, campaigns, subsidies, and taxes), consumers (through efforts to reduce food waste and changing diets), industry and businesses (through their R&D, pre-competitive, and collaborative efforts), and multiple science and engineering fields.

However, we, as food scientists, engineers, and professionals, must be at the forefront, as we know the science of food best. We will need to collaborate with all the relevant stakeholders as well as the scientists and engineers in other and adjacent fields. With that, let me emphasize this: No one else will lead this journey for us. We need to feel accountable and willing to pave the way. Food is essential, a human right, and magical. Yet, our global food system does not meet today’s needs and will struggle even more with business as usual. We need to create a world where everyone has access to enough nutritious food sourced sustainably.

To get there, we need top-talent, willing, and perseverant food scientists, engineers, and professionals in this field, guided by science and technology. We need to feel empowered and help each other feel empowered and believe that we can lead this change to secure humanity’s future. Once we believe, the rest will follow.