Month:

On March 13, the
W.I.R.E.LAB
was officially opened at the Gasthaus zum Bären in the presence of Mayor Corine Mauch.

Since March 19, 2014, the food of the future has been served in the heart of Zurich at Gasthaus zum Übermorgen in the W.I.R.E.LAB. On eight evening occasions and every Friday lunchtime, new food fictions and gastronomic adventures from the 3D printer, the garbage can or the skyscraper farm are on the plates of the “
Gasthaus for the day after tomorrow
“.

Every month, W.I.R.E., in collaboration with the catering company SV Group, deals with a culinary theme relating to the food culture of the future. The events are curated in the “
Gasthaus zum Übermorgen
” are curated by culinary expert Patrick Zbinden. After a brief introduction by an expert and a restaurateur from the SV Group, a themed meal is served. The guests develop ideas for the future of our food together with the people sitting next to them.

The range of topics is broad. It ranges from 3D-printed dishes, fish from high-rise aquariums and zero-waste recycling menus to food for an ageing society, alternative protein sources and GM food to help feed the world’s growing population.

The “Gasthaus zum Übermorgen” was opened with a 3-course menu on the theme of “Space Food”. Swiss space expert Bruno Stanek provided an insight into our future diet in view of the planned Mars colonization, while culinary expert Patrick Zbinden provided background information on the menu.

The vegan kitchen blog was there:

Orange juice, mineral water and wine in a test tube for the aperitif reception

It was welcomed to experiment with the food of the future, to experience the future three-dimensionally, not abstractly, but tangibly! The curator warns against locusts and explains this year’s program: space food in April, followed in May by the topic of food porn, food waste and eating in old age, the famous steak from the 3D printer and then for Christmas: food that makes you beautiful, will be the topics at the “Gasthaus zum Übermorgen”.

Bruno Stanek gives a lecture, here is a short summary:

Food has always been very important, even 46 years ago during the moon landing, the first thing people asked about was the food in space: the astronauts ate well there, for example dried lobster. Joeal Allen shook orange juice into a ball and drank it with a tube, freeze-dried strawberries were rehydrated in the shuttle… A meal on the moon costs ten thousand dollars, on Mars it would be forty thousand (costs for transportation etc.). There would be two ways of preserving food, as it would have to keep for at least 2-5 years before reaching Mars. The Russians are still working with tins, but freeze-dried food was first developed during the US nuclear war in the 1940s. This was also a popular food for extreme mountaineers. In food research for astronauts, they considered how plants could be grown in space and whether they would need our Earth gravity, vegetable farms on Mars? A lettuce machine, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers were developed in the Skylab. Monster crops were developed when the Chinese sent the seeds into space and they were irradiated, and on the moon (so we were told) there would be great trace elements, this moon rock soil would be the best fertilizer! We were also told about a social Mars project in the desert where they invented the “dark matter cake” made from coffee powder, coconut sprinkles and mayonnaise (hopefully vegan).

You can find more from Bruno Stanek
here.

After Stanek, there was finally the inspired space food: