GabyPicture a Christmas dinner reworked for the near future: seaweed “pigs in blankets,” lab-grown turkey, pea-based cheese, and “super” potatoes. A team at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has imagined this festive menu for the years ahead.
Pigs in blankets
This dish is a traditional favorite on the British Christmas table. Soon, the meat for it may come from animals fed on seaweed.
Meat from animals fed aquatic plants enriched with iodine and selenium contains higher levels of those nutrients and has a healthier biochemical profile, researchers say.
Turkey
The main holiday dish—turkey with its trimmings—might get a rethink. Scientists predict turkey could soon be grown in laboratory conditions.
That technology could reduce demand for farmed turkey, especially in the run-up to the holidays. It would also provide environmentally friendly, affordable, nutritious alternative proteins. Teams at the National Centre for Innovation in Alternative Proteins in Leeds, the Cell Agri Production Centre in Bath, and the UKRI Centre for Microbiology and Engineering at Imperial College are actively developing these alternatives.
Potato dishes
Researchers plan to create so-called super potatoes using advances in engineering biology. They’re developing varieties that are healthier, more damage-resistant, and that cook significantly faster.
Pea cheese
Researchers at the University of Nottingham have developed cheese from peas, turning yellow British peas into an eco-friendly plant-based cheese.
This alternative has properties similar to dairy cheese but with much less fat, producing a healthy, tasty vegan cheese suitable for Christmas dishes.
Stella Pease, a senior manager at UKRI, said, “Food is at the heart of many cultures; it brings people together to share traditions.” It also nourishes us and supports our health.
