Future Now
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Artifact from the Future: LUNCHABIOS
Read coverage in Fast Company »
WHAT: Hey Kids! Make Lunch on the Grow™ with new Lunchabios! Don’t wait for mom and dad to make the same old boring food, make your own! Lunchabios come with a gooey cheese bioreactor to culture your own cheddar, yeast and nutrient packets to help your cheese grow, and crispy crunchy crackers to make the experience magical! Whether you’re a mad scientist or a kooky chef, Lunchabios is your chance to show your creation to the world. Our Pro-GMO Project certification means you know we have the most sustainable and tasty ingredients, designed to maximize deliciousness and delight. Take learning out of the classroom and into the cafeteria with Lunchabios today!
SO WHAT: The introduction of ultra-cheap bioreactors means that the process of synthesizing simple food products, such as cheese, will leave the realm of well-funded labs and enter the realm of, well, everyone. Today’s debates over GMO labeling will only get more complicated and contested as the science advances and more third party certifications fight for space on packaging. One strategy food companies will likely adopt is to increase transparency into the process of cultured foods in an attempt to engage eaters in a learning opportunity that increases scientific literacy and enlists people in hands-on experiences of new food production methods. Some of those hands-on food experiences will be targeted towards kids, likely in both a creative and somewhat controversial manner, whether parents like it or not.
Learn more
This particular Artifact from the Future—Lunchabios—is one of six Artifacts developed in conjunction with our recent Food Innovation report, and might be something you would see over the coming decade as Experimental Biodesign revolutionizes the food system. Read more forecasts and signals about how Experimental Biodesign will be an ingredient for food innovation in the future.
This Artifact from the Future is a snapshot of what might emerge if forecasts about the future materialize. It was developed as part of our Food Innovation: Recipes for the Next Decade report which is a book of recipes on how to create systems-level change across the food system. This Artifact from the Future is an at-a-glance tool for exploring the fundamental question: What is possible?
Like all IFTF’s Artifacts from the Future, this image offers insights into future everyday lives and is intended to give you an immersive look at a possible future change.
How did we get to this future?
Signals from today:
A signal is a small or local innovation that has the potential to grow in scale and geographic distribution. Signals are very specific examples that, when clustered together, point to a larger trend or shift. When creating Artifacts from the Future, IFTF combines today’s early signals to tell a new story about what’s possible in the next decade.
Here are some of today’s signals that, when combined, make “Lunchabios” a possible future:
Perfect Day Foods is a San Francisco-based cellular agriculture company making milk from cell culture, familiarizing grocery shoppers with the concept of products made from lab-grown processes.
Although it may seem a bit ridiculous that children might be playing around with bioengineering, Amino Labs is already selling home kits for bacterial engineering, aimed at middle and high schoolers.
The original product that this artifact is based on is synonymous with processed foods, but big brands are becoming acutely aware of the demand for alternatives to industrially-produced meats. In fact, the inventor of the Lunchables has gone on to start a plant-based protein company, Improved Nature.
The fictitious third-party certification on the Lunchabios box says "Pro-GMO Project Verified"; a not-so-unlikely vision of a near future in which the demand for GMOs is as fervent as the protest of them. In fact, this future is already becoming reality in the form of a pro-GMO billboard raised by Soylent.
What other signals of this future do you see already happening today? Or, what else becomes possible when these signals combine? We invite everyone to practice being a food futurist and creatively imagining futures that are radically different from the present. Share your ideas with us at [email protected]!