During the past four years of future of food research, and especially since The Taste of Tomorrow was published last year, the most frequent question I get is The Almighty One.  The Let’s-Not-Mess-Around.  Just tell me.

What’s for dinner in 2035?  What am I eating?

My answer has evolved — even after the book published. But the one thing that I’ve learned in my short career as food future forecaster — the one bit of certainty — is that the only sensible way to answer the “What’s for Dinner”  question is with a question. That is:

Can I see your tax returns?  

Yes. In order to forecast your future meal,  it’s important to know whether you’re rich, middle-class,  poor, where you live, how many children you have, where you went to college, etc.

Alex Renton, a British journalist, who has written extensively on food, agriculture and development issues, has smartly included that fundamental approach in a piece that ran last weekend in The Observer.  Renton divided his future food forecast for the expected 70 million Brits of 2035 into two meals — one for the haves, the other for the have-nots.

The well-off have satiation foods and fresh foods and smart refrigerators; the lower-class Brits are eating fried locusts and lab-grown nuggets and vitamin-fortified meat.

Check out Renton’s spot-on  “What’s for Dinner”  forecast, and also see more TofT comments in a follow-up post.