(one of four food scenarios on the topic of food futures)

Disruptive progress in technology brought about a Closed-loop Industrial Revolution. Humanity is becoming proficient in manipulation of matter, leading to the emergence of hyper-efficient technologies; computers can now be made from a handful of soil, food grown synthetically in a lab. Not only the creation, but also breaking down of materials has lead to radical waste reduction, and eventually to the appearance economically and environmentally viable closed-loop industrial systems.

The industry now working almost fully in closed loops, the pressure on natural resources has dropped. This led to a large-scale rewilding and to the blossoming of trans-local permaculture-driven design. Bucolicities, or vegetal cities are beginning to emerge, built and grown from- and within food forests. Bucolicities thrive on freegan micro-supply chains, as it is now possible to collect fresh fruits and vegetables from the trees lining bike-paths and canopy walkways. The rural population dwindles, and the countryside is turned into sites for regeneration of diverse eco-systems.

A wide range of cost-effective healthy food is now available, but also extravagant & ultra-boutique and highly specialized items made by widely distributed culture of general tinkeriness (everyone’s a maker, hacker, grower, brewer of some kind). For instance, more and more nano-breweries are sprouting, selling less than ten bottles a year from hyper-local geographical “appelations”. Personalised supply chains are available, using swarms of drones that fly across cities to home-deliver personalised superfood dinners. While most of the foodstuffs and medicine is grown and consumed locally, the progress in closed-loop production systems awakened the old dream of space travel and colonisation. Astrogastronomy (aka “astrogastro”) is quickly developing, with an emphasis put on food spiced with xeno-elements. Beyond planetary macro-scale supply chains focus on epicurean “moon food’ delivered through convoluted, but fully transparent systems.

In this food and health conscious society wellness and design are closely linked together. Food design is a valuable creative expertise in closed loop nutrition. Aestheticised designer foods evolved into technologically enhanced, bio-inspired forms, shapes and colours, micronutrients that carry customised drugs that allow humans to enhance our senses. Food is not only seen as fuel for our bodies, but as mutation agents able to adapt our anatomies. Dermatologists noticed the emergence of harmless cutaneous signs when the level of some toxins were higher than average. Some animals refuse instinctively food polluted with open-loop industry toxic waste, and researchers are currently investigating what seems to be new tastebuds which appeared on their tongues. Next generation swarm of delivery drones display new colors and shapes inspired by south-American rainforest birds.

Human health is seen as intrinsically linked to health of our environment. The use of antibiotics has become highly regulated in closed-loop food production. While known illnesses are well managed, the society is shaken by emergence of new diseases. There are many unforeseen effects of producing much of the food in hermetically enclosed technosphere. Reaching the limits of Closed Loop industry, scientific research has now moved to previously marginalised domains, such as species cohabitation and communication. Northern Europe is known for the excellence of its research in Plant Neurobiology, especially after the Nobel Prize awarded to the Urban Plant Well-Being Research Group from Edinburgh University. Inverness University was also quite in sight after publishing the wrapping the final map of the Human Microbiome Project. Globally, science education overcome a major shift, allowing shorter “supply chains” from information to wisdom.