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Environment

Meatballs Made of Bugs and Algae Still Look Good Enough to Eat

Meet the meatballs of 2035.
Photo: Lukas Renlund. All images courtesy of Space10

Space10, the design lab that serves as Ikea’s “external innovation hub,” is sparking a conversation about our dietary future by reimagining a signature food—the meatball.

Pretty much everyone knows that our current eating habits aren’t sustainable—our meat production uses large amounts of increasingly precious clean water, contributes considerably to global warming, and, according to population growth projections, things are only going to get worse. With this in mind, the Space10 team set out to imagine some of the meatballs we might be eating in 20 years.

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They know that some of their more out-there meatballs may not seem particularly palatable now, but Space10 Creative Director Kaave Pour thinks that in our efforts to eat more sustainably, effective design will help us overcome initial squeamishness. "Take sushi as an example,” he writes,  "which I think is a great example of design that encourages people to try the unfamiliar in a familiar way. When sushi became popular in the West people suddenly ate seaweed, algae and raw fish and I believe that the design of sushi played a crucial part in that." So Space10 has dreamed up some gorgeously designed meatballs that will make you want to take a bite even after you learn what’s in them.

First up is their artificial meatball. Artificial meat is grown in a lab—gross, sure, but it will almost certainly sound more appetizing when half our planet’s low-lying land is underwater due to global warming.

Photo: Lukas Renlund

Their Wonderful Waste Ball was designed in an effort to tackle the large amount of usable food that is discarded or left to rot.

Photo: Lukas Renlund

The nutrient-dense Mighty Powdered Ball would be filled with meal-replacing goodness: vitamins and minerals, protein, carbs, and unsaturated fats.

Photo: Lukas Renlund

This nutty meatball is protein dense and looks delicious, ready to be packaged in some kind of eco-friendly wrapper and popped on a shelf at Whole Foods.

Photo: Lukas Renlund

Algae is a great source of nourishment and can be grown almost anywhere without using too many resources. Sustainability is delicious.

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Photo: Lukas Renlund

This ball might just be too pretty to eat. 3D printing has the potential to turn protein from food that might not be super appetizing—beet leaves or insects, for example—into a beautiful meal.

Photo: Lukas Renlund 

80% of the world’s nations eat some form of insect, so it’s only a matter of time before the rest of us come around.

Photo: Lukas Renlund. 

To find out more about Space10, click here. 

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Let's Talk About 3D-Printed Food