In the ’50s and ’60s, our vision of food innovation was quick and convenient TV dinners, or meal-replacement pills a la “The Jetsons.” Now, the focus is on problem solving with natural ingredients, sustainable production and, thankfully, great taste. We checked out some of the most popular and novel foods in development, or recently developed, on Kickstarter — including “tuna” sushi made from tomatoes, and fermented coffee — to see what the future of eating might be. Have a look.
Better than butter
It’s hard to make a butter substitute that’s delicious and works for baking, but Brooklyn-based Fora Foods thinks they’ve done it — using chickpeas. Their FabaButter is made from aquafaba — the thick liquid you get after cooking or canning chickpeas — as well as coconut oil, sunflower oil, nutritional yeast and sea salt. The product is said to taste just like dairy butter and it has a higher smoke point, making it better for pan-frying and sauteing. “It ranks as the best nondairy butter I have tried,” says chef Brad Farmerie of Noho’s Saxon + Parole.
How it tastes: Uncannily similar to unsalted butter
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in March with a goal of $15,500, and has raised more than $22,000 so far.
Where to buy: Though he won’t disclose pending deals, CEO Aidan Altman says they’re preparing for a national retail and restaurant campaign with some “exciting” chef partnerships, beginning early summer.
Healthy snacks from the sea
Courtney Boyd Myers’ father created and helped market the Burger King Kids Meal, and that inspired her to invent healthy foods. “I grew up knowing [what my dad was selling] was wrong,” says the 33-year-old pescatarian and co-founder of Akua’s Kelp Jerky. As an adult working in tech and startups, Boyd Myers longed for a vegan, protein-rich snack and came across kelp. After testing it in everything from burgers to pasta, she hit upon turning it into jerky.
“A lot of [meat] jerky is geared toward men,” says Boyd Myers, who splits her time between NYC and Portland, Maine. “Women want plant-based, high protein, low-sugar snacks [too].”
How it tastes: Like seaweed covered in strong, savory spices, with a tough, chewy texture that’s surprisingly close to animal-based jerky.
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in March with a goal of $25,000, and raised more than $71,000.
Where to buy: On IndieGogo, you can preorder a variety pack of sea salt and sesame, rosemary and maple barbecue, and turmeric Thai and coconut flavors for $26, plus shipping. The estimated delivery is July.
Nutrition bars made from bugs
In recent years, a number of companies have tried to make consuming crickets — a diet staple in parts of Asia, Africa and South America — popular in health and wellness circles. Eat:em, a Swedish producer of cricket-based foods, hopes to finally make insects mainstream in Europe and the US with a bar made from just a few natural ingredients — cocoa beans, nuts, dates, coconut oil and roughly 32 ground crickets per serving.
“It’s very hard to get that much complete protein at that [low of a] cost to the environment,” says founder Martin Strid of the bar’s 8-plus grams of sustainable protein. The noisy arthropod is also rich in iron, zinc, vitamin B12, magnesium and calcium, and tastes somewhere “between hazelnuts and nutmeg,” according to Strid. While Eat:em is not the first to make a cricket bar, theirs is notable for its short list of ingredients with no added sugar.
How it tastes: Eat:em was unable to provide a sample by press time.
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in February with a goal of 50,000 in Swedish krona, and raised SEK 77,238, or $9,263.
Where to get them: Currently available for worldwide shipping on IndieGogo for $41 for a 12-bar box. That’s 384 crickets!
Coffee that’s easy on your stomach
Afineur, a “custom fermentation studio” based in Brooklyn, hopes to make your daily cup of java easier to digest and more delicious with its eatCultured Coffee. Founder Camille Delebecque, who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology, knew probiotic microorganisms could be key in minimizing coffee’s unpleasant side effects, such as acid reflux and jitters. Many coffees are fermented once during “processing” when the bean is removed from the “cherry.” Cultured Coffee’s ethically sourced beans are fermented again, approximately 48 hours before roasting, in small batches using a carefully curated bath of microbes.
How it tastes: Like a smooth, medium roast, with less acerbic aftertaste.
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in 2015 with a goal of $15,000, and went on to raise more than $51,000.
Where to buy: Five-ounce bottles of whole beans can be purchased online at Amazon or EatCultured.com for $19.99 each.
Ketchup in solid form
Slice of Sauce is a dehydrated ketchup product that looks like a red Kraft Single, but creator Emily Williams insists it’s not just about “mess-free convenience,” it’s also about health. The slices are free of the GMOs, high fructose corn syrup and preservatives common to traditional ketchups, and they last up to a year in the pantry.
How it tastes: Bo’s Fine Foods, the company behind Slice of Sauce, was unable to provide a sample, but Williams says early reaction by tasters has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in March with a goal of $15,000, and has raised almost $28,000.
Where to buy: Slice of Sauce is working toward a full launch online and in grocery stores this summer.
Sushi made from vegetables
The idea for Ahimi, a tomato-based ahi tuna substitute, came to James Corwell on a trip to Tokyo. In giant warehouses of sushi-grade tuna he saw how in-demand sushi had become, in spite of growing concerns about overfishing: “I had to do something,” says the co-founder of New York City’s Ocean Hugger Foods. Corwell knew that, like meat, tomatoes contain high levels of glutamic acids, which help impart a savory flavor. His secret recipe combines tomato with soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil in a manner that remarkably, mysteriously mimics the texture of raw, fatty tuna. Unami, an eggplant-based eel alternative, and Sakimi, a fake salmon made from carrots, are in the works.
What it tastes like: Like a soy-sauce-soaked umami-bomb with a texture that’s shockingly close to tuna.
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in 2014 with a goal of $10,000, and raised $21,196.
Where to buy: After a recent expansion, Ahimi is now available at nearly every Whole Foods in NYC. Unami and Sakimi are expected to hit stores this summer.
A snack that prevents allergies
In Israel, puffed peanut butter snacks are quite popular, and the country has one of the lowest rates of peanut allergies in the world. That fact led entrepreneur Greg Murphy to add to his Puffworks snacks line by creating peanut butter corn puffs meant to expose young children to peanuts in small increments for allergy prevention. Puffworks Baby is formulated along new pediatric guidelines from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommend feeding small doses of peanut foods to infants as early as 4 months old. to reduce the chance of allergies.
What it tastes like: The texture is just like Cheetos puffs, and have a salty, peanutty flavor.
Funding: The Kickstarter launched in March with a goal of $10,000, and has raised just over $1,000 so far.
Where to buy: Portland, Ore.-based Puffworks plans to begin distribution through Amazon this month, and expand its East Coast presence in 2018.