The Future of Christmas Food

Happy Christmas everyone! I thought it would be fun to have a festive food post this week. While what we eat at Christmas differs around the world, I think it’s safe to say that food is an important part of any Christmas celebration (here is a fun article looking at Christmas foods you might not have seen before). I thought about exploring the impact different Christmas dinners have on the environment this week, but realised that it wouldn’t be especially festive  (if you are interested, this article describes Christmas food’s carbon footprint, referencing this paper).  Instead, I thought I would take a quick look at the future of Christmas food.

There are plenty of interesting ideas out there about what a Christmas dinner might look like in 2050: 3D printed food, hydroponic vegetables from our own kitchens, and modified Turkeys grown in bioreactors  have all been suggested. Bompas & Parr, a London-based company, created and hosted a Christmas meal of the future this month, focusing on modern cooking techniques, sustainability and the flavours that define Christmas. The menu included ‘cheese straws of immortality’, underground grown salad, pressure cooked gravy and ‘clear Christmas pudding with a liquid centre, served with liquid nitrogen brandy ice cream’.  I thought that this was a really clever idea, making people think about what they eat and the way it is created at Christmas, and how this might evolve in the future.

Hydroponic vegetables, 3D food printer, the Bompas & Parr menu and their Turkey

While we don’t know what the future holds, these new ideas are fascinating. It seems that we might have to soon break Christmas traditions in new and exciting ways. As always, let me know what you think in the comments and have a very merry Christmas!  

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