I first came across the work of speculative food designer and food futurist Chloé Rutzerveld when she launched her Edible Growth concept in 2014. As a researcher with the Food Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future, I was always seeking signals of change—emerging behaviors, technologies, social movements, or business models that pointed to a larger shift in the ways we might produce and consume food. At a time when 3D printing generally recreated familiar foods such as sugar cubes and hamburgers, Chloé was exploring how the technology could enable a new production ecosystem, reimagining the entire process from “planting” seeds to consumption. She demonstrated that new technological capabilities open up possibilities for reimagining not just food, but also our relationship with it.
When I met Chloé in Italy a few years later, I found a kindred spirit—someone as interested in tradition as innovation, curious what the past can teach us about the future. I was honored and delighted when Chloé invited me to write the foreword to her book, Food Futures: How Design and Technology can Reshape our Food System, which is out today.
Food Futures is a collection of speculative scenarios that investigate and explore the uncharted possibilities associated with food technologies, and how we can harness these technologies to make our food more efficient, healthy and sustainable.
Read more about the book and order a copy on Chloé's website.
Foreword by Rebecca Chesney
“Food Futures is a book for our time, and for the years to come. It inspires us to explore the unexpected places innovation will take us if we combine the rigor of scientific inquiry with the reflective nature of art. Chloé’s work asks each of us to think beyond what we know today, to imagine what might be tomorrow. This book is an important read for anyone interested in food innovation and food systems change.”