food FUTURIST
I’ve always been interested in food and drink. In my teens I took over the cooking at home, applying what I’d learned from TV shows and books. My student summers were spent in a hotel kitchen - one I took over and ran successfully when the head chef left.
Today, I get to indulge my interest in food and drink working with incredible clients around the world, to help them see how culture, technology, and the climate will change our consumption from farm to fork. From organisational strategy to new product development, my insights have helped some of the world’s largest producers, wholesalers, retailers and F&B brands.
The Future Pizza
A few years ago, The Big Bang Fair, a science, technology and engineering event for children, asked me to design the ‘Future Pizza’. We came up with some ideas and then we got together at a pizzeria in London and had them make our future pizza for a panel of kids to try.
The most controversial choice in our future pizza was the introduction of insects. Ground up crickets allowed us to improve the protein content, adding to the health benefits. And remove some of the wheat flour - something that climate change could see being harder to grow and more expensive.
For the topping we used vertically farmed tomatoes, grown in an indoor urban farm with no pesticides and carefully controlled water use. And we added vegan cheese to further lower the carbon footprint.
The kids loved our pizza, and so did the media! The story was covered from London to Mumbai via New York. It even attracted a film crew from Germany’s biggest science show over to the UK to film.
FUTURE OF FOOD KEYNOTE
I’ve given a number of addresses to food and drink conferences and events, looking at the future of food. From small addresses to the media or internal teams, talking about near term food trends, to opening keynotes for the world’s largest food events, like Gulfood.
If you’re organising an event for a food service, production or retail audience, drop me a line and we can have a chat about how to get your audience thinking differently about the future.
FUTURE FOOD CONSULTING
Some of my food and drink clients choose to use me as a sounding board for ideas, an early trends indicator, or as a contributor to research processes in the early stages of new product development. Because I spend a lot of time examining trends, speaking to diverse groups across business and consumer marketplaces, I can offer a different perspective to internal advisors and consultants.
Repeat business tells me I can usually add a lot of value in an hour long video call.
Deliveroo: Snack to the Future
I was one of five external contributors asked by Deliveroo to contribute to its ‘Snack to the Future’ report, looking at the future of the food and beverage industry. The report addressed a range of fascinating food trends and secured enormous amounts of global media coverage.
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