Synopsis

“In a feat of razor-sharp journalism, Zimberoff asks all the right questions about Silicon Valley’s hunger for a tech-driven food system. If you, like me, suspect they’re selling the sizzle more than the steak, read Technically Food for the real story.” —Dan Barber, the chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Eating a veggie burger used to mean consuming a mushy, flavorless patty that you would never confuse with a beef burger. But now products from companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Eat Just, and others that were once fringe players in the food space are dominating the media, menus in restaurants, and the refrigerated sections of our grocery stores. With the help of scientists working in futuristic labs––making milk without cows and eggs without chickens––start-ups are creating wholly new food categories. Real food is being replaced by high-tech.

Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat by investigative reporter Larissa Zimberoff is the first comprehensive survey of the food companies at the forefront of this booming business. Zimberoff pokes holes in the mania behind today’s changing food landscape to uncover the origins of these mysterious foods and demystify them. These sometimes ultraprocessed and secretly produced foods are cheered by consumers and investors because many are plant-based—often vegan—and help address societal issues like climate change, animal rights, and our planet’s dwindling natural resources. But are these products good for our personal health?

Through news-breaking revelations, Technically Food examines the trade-offs of replacing real food with technology-driven approximations. Chapters go into detail about algae, fungi, pea protein, cultured milk and eggs, upcycled foods, plant-based burgers, vertical farms, cultured meat, and marketing methods. In the final chapter Zimberoff talks to industry voices––including Dan Barber, Mark Cuban, Marion Nestle, and Paul Shapiro––to learn where they see food in 20 years.

As our food system leaps ahead to a sterilized lab of the future, we think we know more about our food than we ever did. But because so much is happening so rapidly, we actually know less about the food we are eating. Until now.

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My thoughts

I haven’t delved into this book yet but it sounds fascinating. I love anything having to do with food and this book takes a look into how the food industry is changing. More people are eating less meat and eating more of a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. I know several people like this and over the course of time and being a part of the Abrams Dinner Party, I have been privileged to review some cookbooks that feature dishes that have no animal products in them. Granted, you could easily add meat to the dishes or serve as a side dish, but they continue to show us how what we eat doesn’t have to be laden with animal products and there are many easy and delicious recipes that will satisfy even the pickiest eater.

I have read the intro to this book and appreciate the author’s honest words about how she started down this path, books written by past authors that started the awareness, and how “Big Food” and “New Food” are trying to turn things around. Let’s be honest, Americans have horrible eating habits for the most part and we don’t always pay attention to what we are eating and don’t read labels of processed foods. I can say I’m guilty of this as well. While I try to cook from scratch most of the time, I am just as guilty of using processed foods to cut some corners or when in a time crunch. This doesn’t mean that our diet is horrible, it just means it could be better.

I am looking forward to reading more about how Silicon Valley will take other items such as algae, fungi, pea protein, and cell-based meat and make them fit for human consumption. How will this look for us in the future? Will we become more plant-based consumers or will meat still play a role in our diet? This book will give you more of an insight. Perhaps we will agree with her findings or disagree and continue on the path we are on. Only time will tell.

I think this book will be a must-read for those concerned about the future of our food and the impact of the industry to bring us these items.

About the Author

IT ALL STARTED WHEN I MOVED TO NEW YORK.

When I left San Francisco, it was to follow my ambition of becoming a writer. This was 2011. I lived on the Lower East Side, biked and walked everywhere, earned an MFA in nonfiction from The New School, and, like all writers, wondered how to pay the bills.

Compared to New York, San Francisco was a suburb. But that suburb set the stage for life now. During my decade-plus working in San Francisco’s tech scene, I witnessed first hand the booms and busts of the Internet. I steeped myself in computer code, Silicon Valley clichés, and branded polar fleece jackets. I understood how the web worked but it was no match for my other love: food.

In grad school, food always seemed to wend its way into my stories. Sometimes it was to highlight what I came to think of as my unique superpower: I could see through food, a skill that came from living with Type-one diabetes for decades. Sometimes it was to bring readers along on my travels––dinner at a Kyoto ryokan, trailing a baker at 4:30am, or visiting a French chocolatier at his Queens production facility.

it wasn’t until I blended my two pasts–food plus tech––that my career took off. My first taste of the sector was when I discovered smart people targeting solutions for food waste. Then I followed the incubators supporting New Foods. Since then, I’ve written on the promise of fake eggs, the potential of peas, and how artificial intelligence saved a winery. My work has appeared in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, Insider, and many more publications.

My decade living in San Francisco, and working in tech, helps me understand the rush to invest in today’s food startups. I know well from experience not to get swept up in the frenzy. My hard-earned belief in technology is matched by an equally precious hope for foods that come from the natural world. These days you can find me in Northern California where I’m burning off the calories I eat with mountain hikes and seaside cycling.

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