Food in the future

Bon Appetit (Good Appetite)

“I don’t want porridge amma!”

“Come on putha, eat it up, it is really tasty”

“Oh, why was I born now and not in the future! There won’t be any horrid porridge to eat then! People will just swallow a special pill and that’ll be it”

I overhear this conversation in one morning when I visited my little cousin brother who recently recovered from cold. He was making a fuss over his breakfast making his mom run around the garden to feed him.

Aha,I thought “This chap must have been watching science fiction cartoons and has got things muddled. He thinks that in future instead of soups and porridge, all we’ll eat is powders and pills.”

Mind you, he is not the only one who is mistaken. Several decades ago even scientists thought this way. They declared how wonderful it would be: three tablets a day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also, on special occasions like birthdays, we’d have a tube of vitamin paste. Then what about New Year kaum kokis, and asmi? Christmas pudding and cake?

Just imagine. You eat pills for one day, then another, then a third. To begin with, it would be alright to try and experiment. But by the end of the month? A plate of rice with sombol, dhal and dried fish prepared by mom would seem like a feast and believe me you’d begin to have dreams about your favourite milk shake, chicken curry and the desserts.

That is the whole point. For centuries man has grown used to grains, buns, salads, potatoes, sandwiches and fruit drinks. It would be no easy matter for him to start just eating pills and powders!

For sure, my brother and cousin would really miss the potato chips which they make vanish in few second while watching TV.

However, if we could artificially produce the ingredients for our food, that would be another matter. They would be cheaper and thus be more accessible which would mean everyone on the earth would have enough to eat. A good news for Arabic countries where people are starving, right?

We already know about soya meat made out of soya beans, chicken cubes which offers the taste of chicken curry and various kinds of candies such as chocolates, ice creams and drinks with the flavor of natural fruits. Infact, nowadays we consume more artificial food than the natural food.

So let us wait….what kind of food are yet to come….

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