Are you ready to taste what people will eat in 50 years' time?

What will people on Earth eat in 50 years' time? What food will we be able to find if Earth is flooded by meltwater or dried out due to rising temperatures? And what will we eat if by then we have learned to look after the climate and the world? Will we be able to harvest plentiful crops and secure food for all?

The project The Catastrophic Meal outlines several different scenarios for food and cooking in the future. The project gathers knowledge from nine experts on tomorrow's food and presents this knowledge in short videos to eight international star chefs. The eight chefs get together in April to create menus for a future world where everything works fine, and for a world where everything has spun out of control, respectively.

Over the summer, everybody can enjoy a foretaste of these meals at a number of food festivals in the Central Denmark Region.

Think tank about food in the future
The project The Catastrophic Meal kicked off with a think tank at Vestjyllands Højskole on 7 February 2017. Here, scientists, biologists and farmers in the company of futurologists and chefs discussed the potential larder of the future. Senior researcher from Aarhus University Martin Jensen had this to say:

"Imagine a future where you can have bespoke food designed to suit your DNA and intestinal flora. If you are genetically at risk of contracting cancer or diabetes, you can get food at the supermarket or restaurants, which will keep you healthy and heal you. It is a completely new business model."

He went on:

"We are facing an explosion of new foods and new types of flavour. Today, we only exploit a small percentage of the world's biological diversity as food. One example is seaweed, which we have only just started eating. In the future, we will be able to produce all types of food mechanically without using animals or land, if we want to. We can create meat from stem cells and use natural food with antibacterial properties to preserve organic meat, for instance, instead of using nitrite. The possibilities are terrific. But at the same time, we are losing the ability to cook food ourselves. In Japan, flats are now being built without kitchens. The shared meal and the entire culture around making your own food are under pressure."

A menu for the future
In April, eight star chefs will be flown in from across the world to create menus for the future based on the knowledge that researchers and experts gathered in February. The chefs include Sean Sherman, ethnic American Indian and head of The Sioux Chef restaurant in the US, Kobus van der Merwe from Restaurant Wolfgat in South Africa, and Per Hallundsbæk from Falsled Kro in Denmark. The menus will be developed on the basis of two different scenarios: the successful future and the failed future. The menus, which will be created on 25 and 26 April at Vestjyllands Højskole, will be served to invited Danish and foreign journalists, politicians and students.

Future food at festival
The think tank's knowledge and the actual menus that will be created by the eight chefs can be experienced at a number of food events in the Central Denmark Region in the course of 2017. Events will be held in Holstebro, Struer and Lemvig from 27 April through 6 May, at the OFF Road Festival in Skive on 6 May, at courses in August at Vestjyllands Højskole, and at the Food Festival in Aarhus 1-3 September.

The Catastrophic Meal is a collaboration between European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017, Food Organisation Denmark, Vestjyllands Højskole and Jakob Vinkler, who for this project has been nominated for the Artbeat Prize, which will be awarded at the end of March.

The Catastrophic Meal is at part of More Creative, which is Central Denmark Region’s strategy to stimulate growth and create jobs by supporting the region’s creative industries. The core purpose of More Creative is to develop creative clusters and to form new regional partnerships across the creative industries and the wider economy.

Read more here and on European Region of Gastronomy 2017