Unnaturally delicious : how science and technology are serving up super foods to save the world

The food discussion in America can be quite pessimistic. With high obesity rates, diabetes, climate change, chemical use, water contamination, and farm animal abuse, it would seem that there wasn't very much room for a positive perspective. The fear that there just isn't enough food has expanded to new areas of concern about water availability, rising health care costs, and dying bees. In Unnaturally Delicious, Lusk makes room for optimism by writing the story of the changing food system, suggesting that technology and agriculture can work together in a healthy and innovative way to help solve the world's largest food issues and improve the farming system as we know it. This is the story of the innovators and innovations shaping the future of food. You’ll meet an ex-farmer entrepreneur whose software is now being used all over the world to help farmers increase yields and reduce nutrient runoff and egg producers who’ve created new hen housing systems that improve animal welfare at an affordable price. There are scientists growing meat in the lab. Without the cow. College students are coaxing bacteria to signal food quality and fight obesity. Nutrient enhanced rice and sweet potatoes are aiming to solve malnutrition in the developing world. Geneticists are creating new wheat varieties that allow farmers sustainably grow more with less. And, we’ll learn how to get fresh, tasty, 3D printed food at the touch of a button, perhaps even delivered to us by a robotic chef. Innovation is the American way. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington Carver, and John Harvey Kellogg were food and agricultural entrepreneurs. Their delicious innovations led to new healthy, tasty, convenient, and environmentally friendly food. The creations were unnaturally delicious. Unnatural because the foods and practices they fashioned were man-made solutions to natural and man-made problems. Now the world is filled with new challenges changing the way we think about food. Who are the scientists, entrepreneurs, and progressive farmers who meet these challenges and search for solutions? Unnaturally Delicious has the answers. "The food discussion in America can be quite pessimistic. With high obesity rates, climate change, and farm animal abuse, it would seem that there isn't much room for a positive perspective. But innovation is the American way. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington Carver, and John Harvey Kellogg were food and agricultural entrepreneurs who invented "unnaturally delicious" foods and practices - many of them still in use today - that provided man-made solutions to both natural and man-made problems. "Unnaturally delicious" is the story of today's innovators who are shaping the future of food. You'll meet an ex-farmer entrepreneur whose software is being used on farms all over the world ; egg producers who've created housing systems that affordably improve hen welfare ; scientists who are growing meat without the cow ; and college students who are coaxing bacteria to help improve food quality and fight obesity. Nutrient-enhanced sweet potatoes are being used to solve malnutrition in the developing world, and we may soon have tasty 3-D printed food delivered by a robotic chef. In "Unnaturally delicious", Jayson Lusk offers optimism for the future, showing how science and technology can help solve the world's largest food and farming problems." Unnaturally Delicious is the story of today's innovators who are shaping the future of food. You'll meet an ex-farmer entrepreneur whose software is being used on farms all over the world; egg producers who've created housing systems that affordably improve hen welfare; scientists who are growing meat without the cow; and college students who are coaxing bacteria to help improve food quality and fight obesity. Nutrient-enhanced sweet potatoes are being used to solve malnutrition in the developing world, and we may soon have tasty 3-D printed food delivered by a robotic chef. In Unnaturally Delicious, Jayson Lusk offers optimism for the future, showing how science and technology can help solve the world's largest food and farming problems--Book jacket Title Page Copyright Notice Dedication 1: Overcoming Nature 2: The Price of Happy Hens 3: Hewlett Packard with a Side of Fries 4: Synthetic Biology: Brewing More Than Beer 5: Growing Flintstones 6: Farming Precisely 7: Bovine in a Beaker 8: Sustainable Farming 9: Waste Not, Want Not 10: Food Bug Zappers 11: The Case for Food and Agricultural Innovation Notes Index Acknowledgments About the Author Newsletter Sign-Up Contents Copyright In Unnaturally Delicious, Lusk makes room for a positive perspective by writing the story of the changing food system, suggesting that technology and agriculture can work together in a healthy and innovative way to help solve the world's largest food issues and improve the farming system as we know it.