Future of Food: Berkeley exhibition explores the alternative world of sustainable cuisine

IF FUTURE FOOD is fun, entertaining, and fantastic, it is also deeply embedded in culture, science, AI and state-of-the-art biotechnology and bioengineering. All of these angles are on display in the Lawrence Hall of Science’s newest exhibit, “Future of Food.”

The over 4,000-square-foot exhibition, which opened in March and continues for the next two years, is highly interactive and self-directed. Hands-on activities allow visitors to act like oysters and catch marine algae (green ping pong balls) with metal baskets, “feed” a burping cow, crawl through a tunnel to explore soil, or walk in a “forest” of super-sized bacon strips and learn how the real deal is being made from seaweed. Not all of the installations are simulated: live native oysters cavort in a 100-gallon tank and mealworms in trays squirm in response to being shaken. Throughout, text panels and other elements appear in English, Spanish, and occasionally Chochenyo, the language of the East Bay Ohlone people.

The science center’s team designed the exhibit in collaboration and conversation with more than 150 community partners, scientists, educators, food entrepreneurs, engineers, tech experts, youths from ARISE High School in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, and more. Ohlone land stewardship is a special highlight, along with the impact on the food industry of robotics, AI, gene-edited crops, climate change, issues related to sustainability and culture, and inequities such as “food deserts” connected to serious health and safety issues that endanger people and planet Earth.

The East Bay’s pivotal, often pioneering role is evident in multiple ways. A large map shows locations and installations highlighting local innovators such as alternative plant-based dairy product makers San Leandro-based New Culture and Berkeley-based Gopala Foods; companies developing lab-grown meats like Alameda-based Good Meat and Emeryville’s Finless Foods; and UC Berkeley’s Alt: Meat Lab at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, a program connecting students working on new plant-based foods with industry leaders.

A pre-exhibit media event in early March offered opportunity to hear from three food pioneers and taste or observe new products and technology in the pipeline or already available. Included were Beth Zotter, CEO and cofounder of Umaro Foods, which makes a bacon alternative and other products from seaweed; Bianca Le, head of special projects and external affairs at Mission Barns, a company creating cell-cultivated proteins and aiming to make meatballs and pepperoni; and Mason Earles, of the Plant AI and Biophysics Lab at UC Davis and cofounder of AI farm management platform Scout.

The panelists spoke in depth about global connections between people’s food choices and sustainability, along with the scientific, economic and health safety challenges and benefits of shepherding products along the lab-farm-market-plate chain. The role of AI and robotics, their comments collectively indicated, is key for developing new plant-based proteins, personalized nutrition profiles, more sustainable farming practices, and other “what-food-might-be-in-2050” possibilities.

Food unites people with science

Claudia Bustos, executive director of public engagement at the science center, said in an interview the exhibit supports multigenerational learning. “The primary audience we want to engage is youth and families, but we also want to supply adults with intergenerational learning so they can have conversations on multiple levels.”

Food, she insists, unites people and offers entry points into science from different angles. “We want them to think about themselves as scientists. To learn that cooking is chemistry, measuring ingredients and baking is math and science, shopping for groceries is critical thinking. Food meets each one of us where we are.”

Working with multiple partners and voices, she said, is the future for the science center. “We want to have conversations with people in our local ecosystem, from grassroots organizations to urban farmers to student groups and entrepreneurs. Everyone has a piece of this puzzle. Food diversity in the Bay Area is so exciting and so are the people playing a part, like the individuals we’ve identified as Food Heroes. We saw one, a doctor, meet the urban farmer who provides prescribed vegetables for people in Alameda. Food leadership in the Bay Area isn’t a surprise. It’s a huge call to action for more public dialogue about this global issue.”

Finding the balance between the exhibit’s scientific information, text-based critical dialogue elements, and heavy emphasis on real data with eye-catching visuals and entertaining activities was critical, according to Bustos. A topic as loaded as scientific research involving gene editing and genetically modified vegetables channels the entry point through a lively beanbag toss with giant, inflatable corn, just one example of many others.

“We want to have conversations with people in our local ecosystem, from grassroots organizations to urban farmers to student groups and entrepreneurs. Everyone has a piece of this puzzle.”

Claudia Bustos, Lawrence Hall of Science

A large-scale globe models the impact of global warming on food production by 2080. During the panel, the discussion included how farm tractors are increasingly equipped with multiple cameras capable of taking as many as 30 pictures per second of plants that reveal the health of crops and farm fields. Earles said “massive inroads” are being made in global weather predictions as well as in “fine-scale” ground observations by technology that is becoming “ubiquitous” in the food industry. Bustos predicted an upcoming exhibition involving robotics and other cutting-edge technology will examine similar innovations in multiple industries in greater depth.

Importantly, ancestral wisdom and cultural traditions and histories are intentionally spotlighted and paid tribute in the show. “This is near and dear to me. We have live mealworms that are a potential food protein connected to a local food company, Don Bugito Inc., and its founder, Monica Martinez,” Bustos said. “This connects us to her ancestral practices and family traditions that see insects as protein. We also have a live colony of oysters that connects to the Ohlone people of the East Bay. The current Bay holds only one percent of its former oysters.”

Pearls of wisdom

The installation includes a fast-motion video showing oysters filtering water and another video featuring two leaders of the ‘ollie initiative, the name given to the science center’s programs serving to build connection and understanding between UC Berkeley and the Ohlone community. A “Hungry, Hungry Oysters” activity has visitors catching algae in metal baskets. “It’s like a midway game,” Bustos said. “In the enclosed space, three baskets can be operated by three different people. There are air bubbles pumping in and ping pong balls fly around and you try to catch them in your ‘oyster claw.’ People begin to understand how oysters aren’t just passive, they’re active collectors.”

Which brings up a final point: the possibility the serious ramifications on food of climate change and other forces that no colorful palette of inflatables or game playing can make “fun” will have people departing the exhibit feeling depressed or overwhelmed, Bustos said.

“We wanted people to leave with the ability to take action, connect with organizations. We don’t dictate which options are better, because people have varying incomes and abilities. But there is a need for people to think about what’s on their plate, to recognize different cultures and their food traditions and knowledge, and to develop action plans that feel tangible. That’s why the last quarter of the exhibit is a story of hope and people solving problems.”

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