Mail carriers entering your home to stock your fridge, groceries at your doorstep via drone, plant-based meat that “bleeds”—if this is increasingly how we’re eating now, then what can we expect in 2020? 2050? And given a growing world population and climate change concerns, which of these innovations do we actually need?
These are only a sampling of the big questions we explored last month at Food Loves Tech (FLT): our all you can eat and drink Industry City expo where you can test drive food technologies from field and sea to next gen frontiers. Think of it as a one-stop shop to try Buzzfeed’s Tasty One Top, greens from indoor farms, beer made from surplus bread and more.
This year’s FLT had three main components: the expo, a feedfeed test kitchen powered by Vitamix and a panel series.
As our expert panel discussing how technology can make us better home cooks acknowledged, Vitamix is a leading example of how much tech experienced home cooks want (other than the actual Vitamix employee on the panel, no one was paid to say this, promise). It is pricey but can go well beyond juicing and make nut butters, pesto and, yep, even face masks. Feedfeed co-founder Julie Resnick helped lead these demos and more with top-notch kitchen talent, including chef Suzanne Cupps of Untitled, Michael Chernow of the Meatball Shop and Seamore’s, Winston Chiu of Bonbite and Little Tong (just named one of Pete Wells’s top New York restaurants of 2017), Brad Farmerie of Saxon + Parole, Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern and members of the feedfeed community. Watch all the demos here.
Across the way, a cohort of the food world’s sharpest thinkers addressed some of the biggest challenges facing our food future: What is the role of genetics in the food supply? How should we grow food for the future? How can tech help save our oceans? Experts including former White House chef Sam Kass, author and scientist Marion Nestle, Food Tank president Danielle Nierenberg and New York City Department of Sanitation director of policy and senior adviser Elizabeth Balkan took on these questions and more, helping the audience understand these daunting issues. Watch all the panels here.
And what would any one of our events be without an all-you-can-drink beer, wine and cocktail tasting? After day one, we assembled a room of some of our favorite bartenders and drink makers to showcase some of the more delicious ways that tech is entering this supply chain. Big brands including Bulleit Bourbon and Belvedere Vodka discussed tech’s growing role in their companies while local businesses like White Moustache—the beloved Persian-style yogurt maker—mixed drinks with whey that would have otherwise gone to waste. There was even a rare Mike Anthony-sans-chef’s-whites sighting behind the Gramercy Tavern bar, cocktail shaker in hand.
Our dozens of expo vendors were the fuel behind FLT, though, prompting conversations and proposing delicious solutions for our very near food and drink future. We couldn’t have hosted the event without them:
In the field and sea: AeroFarms, Australis Barramundi, Billion Oyster Project, Bowery Farming, Edenworks, Gotham Greens, Koppert Cress USA, Proud Pour, Smallhold, The Honest Bison
In the home: feedfeed, Vitamix, Bulleit, BuzzFeed’s Tasty, Curious Elixirs, Daily Harvest, Google Home, HelloFresh, Industry City, Lyft, Nima, PicoBrew, Print All Over Me, SeedSheet, SproutsIO, Seasonal Food Guide App, Untitled
In the city: Belvedere Vodka, Foundation for New York’s Strongest, Gramercy Tavern, GroGreen, Impossible Foods, Lenz Winery, Oatly, Raisin: The Natural Wine App, ReachNow, Saxon + Parole, Seamore’s, Square Roots, Toast Ale, TouchBistro, Inc.
On the horizon: Baldor, BeeHex, Blue Point Brewing Company, bonbite, KabaQ 3D Food, Loacker USA, Sombra Mezcal, The Genuine Origin Coffee Project, The Good Spoon, Verizon Fios
Bazaar: Arcane Distilling, Burlap and Barrel, Califia Farms, Chloe’s Fruit, Chobani Food Incubator, Cissé Cocoa Co, eatCultured, Essentia Water, FoodFutureCo, Great Performances, Green Mountain Energy, Health-Ade Kombucha, Jar Goods, Metabrew, Misha, Oatly, Purity.Organic, FoodBytes! by Rabobank, Real Oyster Cult, Seal the Seasons, Seek Food, Selffee: the Edible Photo Booth, Snow Monkey, Zoni Foods
Want to attend the next Food Loves Tech? Mark your calendar for Friday, November 2—Saturday, November 3 2018 at Industry City. Interested in participating? Email us at foodlovestech@ediblemanhattan.com.
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