1 00:00:06,517 --> 00:00:09,310 - What do French fries, TV dinners 2 00:00:09,379 --> 00:00:11,758 and bottles of baby formula have in common? 3 00:00:11,827 --> 00:00:12,862 Nothing right? 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,620 But at one point they were all considered to be 5 00:00:15,655 --> 00:00:17,689 the future of food. 6 00:00:17,827 --> 00:00:20,310 Americans have always had a knack for inventing 7 00:00:20,379 --> 00:00:22,310 and reinventing the future. 8 00:00:22,379 --> 00:00:25,034 We have a long history of pushing food technology 9 00:00:25,137 --> 00:00:29,448 to create new flavors, new textures and new foods. 10 00:00:30,655 --> 00:00:33,034 Like the surprising origins of Cheetos, 11 00:00:33,137 --> 00:00:35,172 launching ice cream into outer space 12 00:00:35,310 --> 00:00:38,310 and adding eggs to a box of Betty Crocker powder 13 00:00:38,344 --> 00:00:40,620 to poof bake your magical cake. 14 00:00:41,862 --> 00:00:44,965 Today we'll get a sneak peek at the delicious innovations 15 00:00:45,137 --> 00:00:46,310 in our food future. 16 00:00:46,379 --> 00:00:49,862 From the sci-fi way to grow veggies without sunlight, 17 00:00:51,206 --> 00:00:54,517 to robots autonomously crafting hamburgers and pizza. 18 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,758 And you won't believe what scientists discovered in plants 19 00:00:59,827 --> 00:01:01,724 that's also found in meat 20 00:01:01,793 --> 00:01:06,103 and creates the delicious meat flavor that we crave. 21 00:01:06,206 --> 00:01:08,862 Come take a ride with me in my flying car, 22 00:01:08,931 --> 00:01:12,586 because this is Modern Marvels: The Future of Food. 23 00:01:13,724 --> 00:01:16,931 [lively upbeat music] 24 00:01:23,034 --> 00:01:26,172 [lively upbeat music] 25 00:01:28,068 --> 00:01:29,896 - [Adam] For a glimpse into the future, 26 00:01:30,034 --> 00:01:33,241 I've come here to Natick, Massachusetts. 27 00:01:33,379 --> 00:01:34,551 - [Presenter] Natick's Generally Equipment 28 00:01:34,724 --> 00:01:39,034 and Packaging Laboratory has both small items and large. 29 00:01:39,206 --> 00:01:41,172 - The military's funding of food research 30 00:01:41,241 --> 00:01:45,275 dates back to World War II and by 1963, 31 00:01:45,379 --> 00:01:47,448 their food research and development mission 32 00:01:47,551 --> 00:01:49,758 moved here to Natick Labs. 33 00:01:49,896 --> 00:01:52,448 These food development efforts by the military 34 00:01:52,551 --> 00:01:55,551 are how American classics like sandwich bread, 35 00:01:55,620 --> 00:01:59,551 the McRib and some would even say Cheetos were created. 36 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:01,448 [lively instrumental music] 37 00:02:01,517 --> 00:02:03,517 So to see what they do here, 38 00:02:03,620 --> 00:02:06,758 is to see a glimpse of our future eats. 39 00:02:06,793 --> 00:02:08,241 To learn how they do it, 40 00:02:08,310 --> 00:02:11,137 Laurie Oleksyk is taking us behind the scenes 41 00:02:11,172 --> 00:02:16,137 of this vast compound of 50 buildings spanning 78 acres. 42 00:02:17,620 --> 00:02:20,344 Laurie is the team leader of Food Engineering and Analysis 43 00:02:20,448 --> 00:02:21,965 at the Army's facilities.. 44 00:02:22,103 --> 00:02:23,344 How are you? - How are you? 45 00:02:23,448 --> 00:02:24,793 - A little bit of patriotic elbow. 46 00:02:24,931 --> 00:02:25,586 [laughing] 47 00:02:25,655 --> 00:02:27,931 You develop everything here? 48 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,793 - Yes, we're the only DOD facility 49 00:02:30,827 --> 00:02:32,965 that conducts the research and development 50 00:02:33,103 --> 00:02:34,517 of all food service equipment. 51 00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:37,793 - So how often are you introducing new product? 52 00:02:37,931 --> 00:02:39,068 - Every single year. 53 00:02:39,137 --> 00:02:40,103 - [Adam] Really? - Yeah. 54 00:02:40,172 --> 00:02:42,689 - [Adam] Laurie's team are the skilled pros, 55 00:02:42,793 --> 00:02:44,931 constantly testing new food technologies 56 00:02:44,965 --> 00:02:46,862 for use by the military today 57 00:02:46,965 --> 00:02:51,413 but soon could be the future of consumer food tomorrow. 58 00:02:52,620 --> 00:02:55,586 And speaking of the future, while I suit up 59 00:02:55,655 --> 00:02:58,793 we're making a pit stop to a company in the Bay Area 60 00:02:58,827 --> 00:03:03,034 that delivers an old favorite with a science fiction spin. 61 00:03:05,034 --> 00:03:08,862 [upbeat dramatic music] 62 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,896 Creator is the first restaurant 63 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,241 to fully automate a major sector of food. 64 00:03:14,344 --> 00:03:17,689 They're making hamburgers by robot. 65 00:03:17,827 --> 00:03:21,000 [lively upbeat music] 66 00:03:23,034 --> 00:03:25,344 - With the app, you can order from the ground up. 67 00:03:25,413 --> 00:03:27,827 You can specify some of the usual customization things 68 00:03:27,862 --> 00:03:30,827 like extra tomatoes, no pickles. 69 00:03:30,896 --> 00:03:33,000 You can also do things you can't do anywhere else. 70 00:03:33,068 --> 00:03:36,379 - [Adam] You choose every item down to the milliliter 71 00:03:36,517 --> 00:03:39,517 of sauces and seasonings that make up your burger. 72 00:03:39,586 --> 00:03:41,137 - [Alex] Finally when you place your order, 73 00:03:41,206 --> 00:03:42,344 the app will even tell you 74 00:03:42,413 --> 00:03:43,827 exactly how long it takes to make your burger 75 00:03:43,862 --> 00:03:44,551 because guess what? 76 00:03:44,655 --> 00:03:45,896 It's all made by a machine, 77 00:03:46,034 --> 00:03:47,379 you know exactly when everything's gonna be ready. 78 00:03:47,517 --> 00:03:51,827 - At full go, it can produce 150 burgers an hour, 79 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,896 but efficiency is only the beginning. 80 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,551 Creator's robot takes a fresh hamburger bun 81 00:03:58,689 --> 00:04:01,758 and guides it through a blade slicing it in half. 82 00:04:01,827 --> 00:04:05,482 A series of motors then butters and moves the sliced bun 83 00:04:05,586 --> 00:04:06,758 through an open view toaster 84 00:04:06,931 --> 00:04:10,275 so you can actually see the browning as it's happening. 85 00:04:10,413 --> 00:04:12,758 A conveyor belt advances the toasted bun 86 00:04:12,827 --> 00:04:15,413 to the next position, the saucer. 87 00:04:15,448 --> 00:04:19,482 Some of their sauce varieties include smoked oyster aioli, 88 00:04:19,586 --> 00:04:22,241 their own take on a thousand island dressing, 89 00:04:22,275 --> 00:04:27,413 sunflower seed tahini and shiitake mushroom sauce. 90 00:04:27,482 --> 00:04:30,896 Then your topping selections are all cut fresh to order 91 00:04:30,965 --> 00:04:33,103 and are carefully placed onto your bun. 92 00:04:33,241 --> 00:04:36,275 The next stop is cheese, your selection of cheeses 93 00:04:36,413 --> 00:04:38,137 is firstly graded onto your bun 94 00:04:38,241 --> 00:04:40,586 and then moves down to a torchlike melter 95 00:04:40,620 --> 00:04:43,586 to give you that perfect stringy yet gooey texture 96 00:04:43,724 --> 00:04:45,586 when you bite into your burger. 97 00:04:45,655 --> 00:04:46,965 While the robot has been preparing 98 00:04:47,068 --> 00:04:48,965 all of your personalized toppings, 99 00:04:49,068 --> 00:04:51,655 it's also been grinding the beef to order. 100 00:04:51,758 --> 00:04:54,793 - We throw cubes of chuck and brisket right in the machine. 101 00:04:54,896 --> 00:04:57,275 Not only does it grind it to order, 102 00:04:57,413 --> 00:05:01,103 after it grinds it aligns the meat to go vertically 103 00:05:01,172 --> 00:05:04,206 along with the way your teeth bite into the patty, 104 00:05:04,310 --> 00:05:06,793 and that makes it more tenderly fall apart into your mouth. 105 00:05:06,862 --> 00:05:09,482 - [Adam] The freshest and most tender of burger patties 106 00:05:09,517 --> 00:05:12,827 is also custom seasoned by you. 107 00:05:12,862 --> 00:05:15,862 You get to choose from 12 different seasonings 108 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,655 and how much of each you'd like on your burger. 109 00:05:18,689 --> 00:05:21,965 And with choreographed timing, your freshly grilled patty 110 00:05:22,034 --> 00:05:25,310 meets your custom dressed bun at the end of the line 111 00:05:25,379 --> 00:05:27,137 where the two are assembled. 112 00:05:27,206 --> 00:05:30,000 - [Alex] All I did was push a button on a phone 113 00:05:30,068 --> 00:05:33,965 and made the freshest, most personalized burger out there. 114 00:05:35,793 --> 00:05:36,896 That's freaking good. 115 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,344 - Americans have loved a good hamburger for decades, 116 00:05:40,482 --> 00:05:44,000 but you'd be surprised to know a lot of other foods we love 117 00:05:44,137 --> 00:05:46,551 exist because of the military. 118 00:05:46,655 --> 00:05:49,517 - To show how much American food has changed 119 00:05:49,655 --> 00:05:53,137 in just 50 years, it's vastly different 120 00:05:53,206 --> 00:05:57,206 even just two generations back what Americans are eating 121 00:05:57,310 --> 00:06:02,068 and what Americans see as even being an American food. 122 00:06:02,137 --> 00:06:04,931 - [Adam] Some of the everyday foods Americans eat today 123 00:06:05,034 --> 00:06:07,931 became everyday foods because of the military. 124 00:06:08,068 --> 00:06:12,172 Take for example, soft and delicious sandwich bread. 125 00:06:12,241 --> 00:06:15,241 During World War II, military food scientists 126 00:06:15,379 --> 00:06:18,724 came up with a formula to keep bread soft and fresh 127 00:06:18,862 --> 00:06:20,724 even longer than before, 128 00:06:20,793 --> 00:06:24,413 which is still being utilized commercially to this day. 129 00:06:24,551 --> 00:06:28,172 Plus Cheetos lovers might know during World War II, 130 00:06:28,241 --> 00:06:32,206 the military funded research in dehydrating cheese, 131 00:06:32,241 --> 00:06:35,206 which eventually led to cheese powder. 132 00:06:35,241 --> 00:06:37,896 At the end of the war, the surplus of cheese powder 133 00:06:38,034 --> 00:06:41,344 was sold to food makers like the Frito Company, 134 00:06:41,413 --> 00:06:45,379 which covered corn puffs with the magical cheesy dust. 135 00:06:45,448 --> 00:06:47,344 - [Edward] It's the sort of thing that you just can't stop 136 00:06:47,413 --> 00:06:49,206 having more of you keep having to go back. 137 00:06:49,241 --> 00:06:51,206 And there's just something about the satisfaction 138 00:06:51,275 --> 00:06:53,000 at the very end where you lick your fingers. 139 00:06:53,068 --> 00:06:54,931 That specifically that last moment 140 00:06:55,034 --> 00:06:56,758 is what I most remember growing up. 141 00:06:58,206 --> 00:07:00,758 -[Adam] We may not have had any of these culinary advances 142 00:07:00,896 --> 00:07:03,827 without food technologists like Laurie and her team 143 00:07:03,931 --> 00:07:06,448 who are constantly finding the newest ways 144 00:07:06,482 --> 00:07:08,758 to push food into the future. 145 00:07:10,103 --> 00:07:11,620 - Today what we'll be able to show you 146 00:07:11,655 --> 00:07:13,655 is we're doing a tube food production. 147 00:07:15,137 --> 00:07:17,482 Oh this is something I'm pretty sure you have never seen. 148 00:07:17,586 --> 00:07:18,482 - [Adam] Okay [laughs]. 149 00:07:18,620 --> 00:07:22,413 - These are tube foods for U-2 pilots. 150 00:07:22,482 --> 00:07:23,620 - Really? - Yep. 151 00:07:23,655 --> 00:07:25,586 - [Adam] The men and women flying U-2 spy planes 152 00:07:25,655 --> 00:07:29,068 monitor war zones and targets all over the world. 153 00:07:29,137 --> 00:07:32,655 - U-2 pilots fly at very high altitudes 154 00:07:32,793 --> 00:07:35,793 wearing a pressurized suit and helmet 155 00:07:35,827 --> 00:07:38,965 so they cannot eat the food with their hands or utensils. 156 00:07:39,103 --> 00:07:40,724 - [Adam] And they are up there sometimes 157 00:07:40,793 --> 00:07:43,275 for 12 hours at a time. 158 00:07:43,310 --> 00:07:46,103 So, since pilots need to keep their hands on the controls 159 00:07:46,137 --> 00:07:47,482 and their eyes on the ground, 160 00:07:47,620 --> 00:07:49,620 enter one of Natick's most successful 161 00:07:49,655 --> 00:07:53,068 and efficient products, the tube food. 162 00:07:53,137 --> 00:07:56,482 [upbeat dramatic music] 163 00:07:59,620 --> 00:08:02,000 Now I noticed that these don't have labels. 164 00:08:02,068 --> 00:08:05,206 When I see tubes with this kind of applicators it scares me. 165 00:08:05,241 --> 00:08:08,344 - Well after we process them, we do apply labels to them. 166 00:08:08,413 --> 00:08:10,551 But I purposely took these labels off 167 00:08:10,689 --> 00:08:12,793 because I wanted to see if you wanted to try them 168 00:08:12,862 --> 00:08:14,000 and guess what they were. 169 00:08:14,172 --> 00:08:17,172 - Oh, I absolutely want that. 170 00:08:17,344 --> 00:08:20,310 [suspenseful music] 171 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:26,517 [upbeat dramatic music] 172 00:08:26,655 --> 00:08:27,862 Wait a darn minute. 173 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,000 [suspenseful music] 174 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:33,517 Is that spaghetti and meatballs? 175 00:08:33,586 --> 00:08:35,413 - It's spaghetti and meat sauce, good guess. 176 00:08:35,517 --> 00:08:36,827 - Oh my gosh. - Yep. 177 00:08:37,862 --> 00:08:39,689 - So is that a piece of pasta? - Yep. 178 00:08:39,758 --> 00:08:42,172 - It's incredible and it's really good meat sauce. 179 00:08:42,206 --> 00:08:47,689 There's clearly onion, clearly has like that rich 180 00:08:47,724 --> 00:08:51,000 sort of umami you get from a good tomato sauce. 181 00:08:51,068 --> 00:08:53,517 It's absolutely stunning. 182 00:08:53,586 --> 00:08:56,862 These foods in tubes really do give the mouth feel 183 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,724 and the experience of actually eating a meal, 184 00:08:59,862 --> 00:09:02,068 which is different than the apple sauce 185 00:09:02,137 --> 00:09:04,551 or pureed beef and vegetables John Glenn was eating 186 00:09:04,724 --> 00:09:07,103 from a tube back in the 1960s. 187 00:09:07,241 --> 00:09:10,068 This is like the three course dinner chewing gum 188 00:09:10,137 --> 00:09:12,241 that Willy Wonka made at his factory. 189 00:09:12,275 --> 00:09:13,379 Now here's number two. 190 00:09:14,758 --> 00:09:16,448 So okay it literally looks like 191 00:09:16,586 --> 00:09:18,034 something like honey mustard. 192 00:09:19,068 --> 00:09:22,034 [suspenseful music] 193 00:09:23,310 --> 00:09:25,827 No way, is this truffle mac and cheese. 194 00:09:25,931 --> 00:09:28,068 - That's exactly what it is, truffle mac and cheese. 195 00:09:28,137 --> 00:09:28,758 - And you guys are using real truffle? 196 00:09:28,896 --> 00:09:31,137 - Real truffle oil, yes. 197 00:09:31,241 --> 00:09:33,413 - It is phenomenal. [laughing] 198 00:09:33,448 --> 00:09:36,551 It's so good, I can't stop eating it. 199 00:09:36,586 --> 00:09:39,068 Round three, fight. 200 00:09:39,241 --> 00:09:40,586 Looks like an aioli. 201 00:09:40,655 --> 00:09:44,724 [lively instrumental music] 202 00:09:44,793 --> 00:09:48,103 [lively instrumental music] 203 00:09:48,241 --> 00:09:49,241 Holy moly. 204 00:09:52,965 --> 00:09:53,931 [upbeat dramatic music] 205 00:09:54,068 --> 00:09:55,551 - [Adam] The year, 1986, 206 00:09:55,586 --> 00:09:56,827 my age 12, 207 00:09:56,931 --> 00:10:00,724 the dream become a fighter pilot like Maverick in Top Gun. 208 00:10:02,275 --> 00:10:06,068 Well, I guess things played out a little bit different. 209 00:10:06,137 --> 00:10:08,758 But today I get a consolation prize, 210 00:10:08,827 --> 00:10:13,068 I'm eating just like the pilot of a U-2 spy plane 211 00:10:13,137 --> 00:10:15,620 and with 21st century technology. 212 00:10:15,724 --> 00:10:17,896 Come on talk to me goose. 213 00:10:18,068 --> 00:10:19,275 Looks like an aioli. 214 00:10:22,310 --> 00:10:23,724 That's apple pie. 215 00:10:23,793 --> 00:10:25,793 - That's apple pie dessert, that's right. 216 00:10:28,103 --> 00:10:30,413 - Holy moly, but how on Earth 217 00:10:30,482 --> 00:10:32,068 did you get the crust in there? 218 00:10:32,241 --> 00:10:35,068 - It's real crust ingredients. 219 00:10:35,103 --> 00:10:37,931 - So do you make a pie and then blend the pie? 220 00:10:37,965 --> 00:10:41,413 - It's more of an apple pie filling with crust blended in. 221 00:10:41,482 --> 00:10:43,551 - The crust is the thing that's breaking my brain 222 00:10:43,586 --> 00:10:44,620 a little bit Laurie. 223 00:10:44,758 --> 00:10:46,896 The folks at Natick totally understand 224 00:10:46,931 --> 00:10:49,413 that hunger is probably best satisfied 225 00:10:49,586 --> 00:10:52,206 by the act of actually chewing food 226 00:10:52,275 --> 00:10:54,586 not just pumping our bodies with calories. 227 00:10:54,620 --> 00:10:56,586 And one day when I go to space, 228 00:10:56,620 --> 00:10:59,413 I'm definitely gonna be hungry for more than apple sauce. 229 00:10:59,482 --> 00:11:02,310 But not all our foods are conducive for space travel 230 00:11:02,482 --> 00:11:05,103 or at least not yet. 231 00:11:05,172 --> 00:11:07,482 - [Nilou] When you think about barbecue or burgers 232 00:11:07,551 --> 00:11:12,965 grilling in the backyard, we love to feed the beast. 233 00:11:13,034 --> 00:11:16,827 The commercial ability of basically making you be able 234 00:11:16,896 --> 00:11:19,000 to have meat at any moment that you want to 235 00:11:19,172 --> 00:11:22,172 by going to the supermarket has made it so that we feel 236 00:11:22,206 --> 00:11:25,448 that it's simple, that it's a natural part of our diet. 237 00:11:25,517 --> 00:11:27,448 - You won't be disappointed in there steaks ma'am. 238 00:11:27,517 --> 00:11:30,275 - That Norman Rockwell image of the table of plenty 239 00:11:30,344 --> 00:11:33,793 with the big turkey is just so incredibly 240 00:11:33,862 --> 00:11:35,689 20th century American dream. 241 00:11:35,827 --> 00:11:38,965 - What we've evolved into is a culture where we think that 242 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,827 in order for a meal to be complete, 243 00:11:40,862 --> 00:11:44,482 the center piece needs to be a large piece of meat. 244 00:11:44,620 --> 00:11:45,965 [lively upbeat music] 245 00:11:46,137 --> 00:11:47,827 - [Adam] But what if in the future, 246 00:11:47,862 --> 00:11:51,793 science helps us redefine what meat is? 247 00:11:51,827 --> 00:11:55,000 [lively upbeat music] 248 00:11:57,689 --> 00:12:00,482 Impossible Foods, plant-based meat alternatives 249 00:12:00,551 --> 00:12:03,896 have recently been popping up on menus at iconic restaurants 250 00:12:03,931 --> 00:12:08,206 around the country like Burger King, White Castle and more. 251 00:12:08,241 --> 00:12:11,344 They're on a mission to convert avout meat lovers 252 00:12:11,413 --> 00:12:13,862 to plant-based alternatives that look, taste 253 00:12:14,034 --> 00:12:17,206 and even bleed like the real thing. 254 00:12:17,275 --> 00:12:20,655 They're looking at meat not just as a by-product of animals. 255 00:12:21,758 --> 00:12:24,896 They're breaking it down to inspect each and every molecule 256 00:12:24,965 --> 00:12:27,379 so they can figure out what plant-based sources 257 00:12:27,448 --> 00:12:29,724 contain the same molecules. 258 00:12:29,793 --> 00:12:33,551 Then they extract those molecules from plant products 259 00:12:33,724 --> 00:12:37,379 and mash them up together again to replicate the juicy, 260 00:12:37,413 --> 00:12:41,517 tender meaty experience we as meat lovers crave. 261 00:12:41,586 --> 00:12:43,724 - When you actually break it down and ask consumers, 262 00:12:43,793 --> 00:12:45,896 what is the number one most important thing 263 00:12:45,965 --> 00:12:48,517 when choosing the food that they purchase? 264 00:12:48,586 --> 00:12:51,724 Flavor is always their number one choice. 265 00:12:51,793 --> 00:12:54,206 So our first goal was to really understand 266 00:12:54,241 --> 00:12:56,206 what makes meat taste like meat. 267 00:12:56,241 --> 00:12:58,379 Actually, it's a really complex mixture 268 00:12:58,448 --> 00:13:00,724 of like over 200 compounds. 269 00:13:00,793 --> 00:13:02,931 - [Adam] Impossible Foods does this 270 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,965 thanks to this machine right here, 271 00:13:05,034 --> 00:13:09,586 the gas chromatography mass spectrometry machine. 272 00:13:09,655 --> 00:13:12,310 Let's just call it the GCMS. 273 00:13:12,448 --> 00:13:15,103 This thing takes a piece of meat and breaks it down 274 00:13:15,172 --> 00:13:18,413 until it reaches the gas phase. 275 00:13:18,482 --> 00:13:22,758 Then generates a report telling you what aromas and flavors 276 00:13:22,793 --> 00:13:24,793 are detected in the meat sample. 277 00:13:24,862 --> 00:13:27,965 Not just beef, you could put a piece of chicken, pork 278 00:13:28,034 --> 00:13:32,448 or even fish in there and the GCMS will tell you what smells 279 00:13:32,517 --> 00:13:34,275 and tastes are present. 280 00:13:34,344 --> 00:13:36,758 - You can see that the detector is picking up 281 00:13:36,793 --> 00:13:38,448 all of these individual peaks 282 00:13:38,517 --> 00:13:41,931 which represent different flavor compounds and aromas. 283 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,103 So it's our job then to go in and understand 284 00:13:45,275 --> 00:13:46,931 which of those are the most important 285 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,448 to make something that your brain recognizes as meat. 286 00:13:50,482 --> 00:13:53,275 - But flavors and aromas, don't add up to meat. 287 00:13:53,344 --> 00:13:56,413 Where's the beef? Well, that's what comes next. 288 00:13:56,482 --> 00:13:59,620 After the GCMS showed what compounds were present, 289 00:13:59,655 --> 00:14:02,517 the crazy smart scientists at Impossible Foods 290 00:14:02,586 --> 00:14:05,793 discovered something present across all living matters, 291 00:14:05,862 --> 00:14:07,379 including plants. 292 00:14:08,758 --> 00:14:11,172 - They discovered this iron molecule called heme, 293 00:14:11,241 --> 00:14:13,000 which is the key ingredient 294 00:14:13,034 --> 00:14:15,310 that makes meat taste like meat. 295 00:14:15,379 --> 00:14:20,034 And when people crave meat, it's really a craving for heme. 296 00:14:20,172 --> 00:14:22,689 - Heme is the iron containing molecule 297 00:14:22,724 --> 00:14:26,655 that aids in carrying oxygen throughout all living matter, 298 00:14:26,689 --> 00:14:28,827 animals and plants. 299 00:14:28,896 --> 00:14:32,862 It is essential for life and it turns out 300 00:14:32,896 --> 00:14:36,689 heme is what gives meat that flavor we crave. 301 00:14:36,724 --> 00:14:39,172 - If you look at different types of meat, 302 00:14:39,206 --> 00:14:40,034 the only thing that's different 303 00:14:40,172 --> 00:14:42,172 is really the concentration of heme. 304 00:14:42,241 --> 00:14:45,862 So red meat and beef from cows is red 305 00:14:45,931 --> 00:14:49,517 because it has a lot of heme and pork is a little less red 306 00:14:49,586 --> 00:14:52,344 because it has less heme and then chicken even less so. 307 00:14:52,379 --> 00:14:55,034 It also is what's giving you that color 308 00:14:55,068 --> 00:14:57,827 and actually goes through the same exact color transition 309 00:14:57,896 --> 00:14:58,862 when you cook it. 310 00:14:58,896 --> 00:15:02,068 - So once the scientists came across heme, 311 00:15:02,137 --> 00:15:05,068 they got to working on how to sustainably and rapidly 312 00:15:05,103 --> 00:15:07,413 reproduce the molecule in bulk. 313 00:15:07,448 --> 00:15:10,551 And for the science geniuses at Impossible it was simple, 314 00:15:10,586 --> 00:15:12,241 yeast fermentation. 315 00:15:12,310 --> 00:15:15,068 - The process that we use to ferment yeast to make heme 316 00:15:15,137 --> 00:15:18,034 is used to make a beer and wine 317 00:15:18,103 --> 00:15:21,413 and we're utilizing that same process of fermentation 318 00:15:21,482 --> 00:15:24,551 from yeast in order to make our key ingredient. 319 00:15:24,620 --> 00:15:26,724 - And for all of you doubters out there, 320 00:15:26,758 --> 00:15:28,896 Impossible Foods executive chef 321 00:15:28,931 --> 00:15:30,758 has one more thing to show you. 322 00:15:32,103 --> 00:15:34,862 - This is gonna eat, chew, respond, react 323 00:15:34,931 --> 00:15:36,758 just how you cook it just how you eat it; 324 00:15:36,827 --> 00:15:39,413 the same characteristics of any beef hamburger 325 00:15:39,448 --> 00:15:41,241 just made from plants. 326 00:15:41,310 --> 00:15:43,862 - If it looks like a burger and tastes like a burger, 327 00:15:43,931 --> 00:15:45,413 I'm probably gonna call it a burger 328 00:15:45,448 --> 00:15:46,965 no matter how it's made. 329 00:15:49,448 --> 00:15:52,620 Now if they could only just put one into a tube. 330 00:15:54,275 --> 00:15:56,758 Now we're getting a behind the scenes look 331 00:15:56,896 --> 00:15:59,931 at how Natick Labs makes the tube foods 332 00:16:00,068 --> 00:16:02,965 that may one day be the meals we eat on the go, 333 00:16:03,137 --> 00:16:06,275 an entire dish at the squeeze of our fingers. 334 00:16:06,344 --> 00:16:09,000 So what are you guys making right now on the line? 335 00:16:09,068 --> 00:16:11,103 - They're making a caffeinated chocolate pudding today. 336 00:16:11,172 --> 00:16:13,448 - Can I see how it's made? - Yeah lets go. 337 00:16:13,482 --> 00:16:14,275 - Let's go. 338 00:16:17,206 --> 00:16:19,793 Today we're venturing where no man has eaten before, 339 00:16:19,862 --> 00:16:23,172 the future and more precisely the future of food. 340 00:16:23,310 --> 00:16:26,517 I just taste tested the newest meals in tubes 341 00:16:26,655 --> 00:16:28,793 that the military has developed. 342 00:16:28,862 --> 00:16:31,862 And naturally I had to see how they were being made. 343 00:16:33,034 --> 00:16:34,862 - So alright, walk you through the process. 344 00:16:34,965 --> 00:16:36,551 - Laurie and Dan are going to show us 345 00:16:36,655 --> 00:16:38,965 how they make these tube foods which who knows, 346 00:16:39,034 --> 00:16:42,965 one day we may be able to pick up at our local grocery store 347 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 as easily as we buy a carton of milk. 348 00:16:46,068 --> 00:16:50,206 To make caffeine dense chocolate pudding, sugar, cocoa, 349 00:16:50,310 --> 00:16:53,551 butter, milk and powdered caffeine 350 00:16:53,655 --> 00:16:56,137 are added to this vat where it heats 351 00:16:56,206 --> 00:16:58,551 just like you'd make pudding on the stove at home. 352 00:16:58,655 --> 00:17:02,862 - Then it goes off and over here into this hopper. 353 00:17:02,931 --> 00:17:05,275 - [Adam] The hopper is attached to several nozzles 354 00:17:05,379 --> 00:17:08,620 pumping the food into tubes, in this case it's pudding 355 00:17:08,724 --> 00:17:10,862 but it could be the delicious spaghetti and meat sauce 356 00:17:10,896 --> 00:17:12,068 that I had earlier. 357 00:17:12,206 --> 00:17:15,758 The food gets pumped into a maximum of 1200 tubes 358 00:17:15,862 --> 00:17:17,551 in just one run. 359 00:17:17,689 --> 00:17:18,620 After the tubes are filled 360 00:17:18,724 --> 00:17:21,827 the ends are folded and crimped to seal. 361 00:17:21,896 --> 00:17:23,413 Now one puts it together. 362 00:17:24,448 --> 00:17:25,586 - Puts a big fold, 363 00:17:25,724 --> 00:17:28,586 doubles that fold and a third stage turns it around 364 00:17:28,689 --> 00:17:31,103 and completes the fold. 365 00:17:31,206 --> 00:17:33,103 And there's a last station there at the end 366 00:17:33,206 --> 00:17:34,551 which puts the date on it. 367 00:17:34,620 --> 00:17:36,241 - Each of the foods developed here 368 00:17:36,379 --> 00:17:38,793 are created with different goals in mind. 369 00:17:38,896 --> 00:17:41,551 For example, the pudding is to offer a pick me up 370 00:17:41,586 --> 00:17:44,896 for long shifts but other tube foods are meant to be meals. 371 00:17:45,034 --> 00:17:47,034 So how long with the meal last? 372 00:17:47,206 --> 00:17:49,586 - These will last three years at 80 degrees. 373 00:17:49,689 --> 00:17:50,379 - Wow. 374 00:17:50,551 --> 00:17:52,448 - At least. - At least. 375 00:17:52,551 --> 00:17:55,551 - You have to think about weight, volume, nutrition, 376 00:17:55,586 --> 00:17:58,896 shelf stability, you're like that machine on "The Jetsons" 377 00:17:59,034 --> 00:17:59,931 where they could press a button 378 00:18:02,862 --> 00:18:05,655 Well, we may not be "The Jetsons" quite yet 379 00:18:05,758 --> 00:18:08,275 but we are getting closer. 380 00:18:08,344 --> 00:18:12,344 [lively instrumental music] 381 00:18:12,448 --> 00:18:13,931 - Welcome to Picnic headquarters, 382 00:18:13,965 --> 00:18:15,517 we're making the world's first 383 00:18:15,620 --> 00:18:17,275 automated pizza production system 384 00:18:17,310 --> 00:18:20,413 for restaurants and commercial food operators. 385 00:18:20,482 --> 00:18:24,413 - Custom made gourmet pizza doesn't sound futuristic, 386 00:18:24,482 --> 00:18:28,965 but how it's made has the future written all over it. 387 00:18:29,103 --> 00:18:32,172 Picnic is reinvisioning pizza making 388 00:18:32,275 --> 00:18:33,965 with their automatic assembly line 389 00:18:34,103 --> 00:18:36,655 programed to crank out pizza pies fast 390 00:18:36,758 --> 00:18:38,517 and with all the fixes. 391 00:18:38,620 --> 00:18:40,344 - Food service is a hard, tedious 392 00:18:40,448 --> 00:18:41,758 sometimes a dangerous job 393 00:18:41,931 --> 00:18:43,448 and automation can make it easier. 394 00:18:43,517 --> 00:18:46,137 [lively instrumental music] 395 00:18:46,275 --> 00:18:48,310 - [Adam] Picnic isn't selling pizzas, 396 00:18:48,448 --> 00:18:51,103 they're manufacturing and developing this robot 397 00:18:51,172 --> 00:18:53,448 to help make the pizza making process 398 00:18:53,620 --> 00:18:57,000 more efficient, cost-effective and standardized 399 00:18:57,103 --> 00:18:59,758 so you can depend on the same great tasting pizza 400 00:18:59,793 --> 00:19:00,793 every time. 401 00:19:00,965 --> 00:19:03,413 - Our system it's not a robot, it's a cobot 402 00:19:03,517 --> 00:19:05,206 meaning that it is designed to work 403 00:19:05,344 --> 00:19:06,586 in cooperation with human workers 404 00:19:06,689 --> 00:19:08,758 not to fully replace human workers. 405 00:19:08,862 --> 00:19:13,758 - It's true, while this cobot assembles pies like any tool, 406 00:19:13,862 --> 00:19:16,586 it just doesn't work without a chef's touch. 407 00:19:16,689 --> 00:19:18,655 Fresh ingredients are prepared and loaded 408 00:19:18,724 --> 00:19:20,482 into the system's compartments. 409 00:19:20,551 --> 00:19:24,310 And of course, before anything else, there's the dough. 410 00:19:25,724 --> 00:19:29,000 - Our system will handle any dough, frozen, hand-tossed, 411 00:19:29,068 --> 00:19:31,137 any shape, any size, any thickness. 412 00:19:32,758 --> 00:19:36,724 So Brian's gonna enter the order into the touch screen. 413 00:19:36,862 --> 00:19:39,551 And as soon as the system recognizes the order, 414 00:19:39,689 --> 00:19:40,827 it automatically starts moving. 415 00:19:47,206 --> 00:19:49,724 - This sleek piece of futuristic machinery 416 00:19:49,862 --> 00:19:52,172 is outfitted with cameras to make sure 417 00:19:52,206 --> 00:19:55,517 just the right amount of each ingredient is added. 418 00:19:55,551 --> 00:19:56,758 - So because this is a supreme, 419 00:19:56,862 --> 00:20:00,172 it's gonna get every ingredient that's mounted today. 420 00:20:00,241 --> 00:20:03,517 We have fresh sliced pepperoni, right off the stick. 421 00:20:03,586 --> 00:20:06,379 And then we're going to put sausage, onions 422 00:20:06,517 --> 00:20:08,344 and green peppers on this pizza 423 00:20:08,413 --> 00:20:10,310 so it's getting a little of everything. 424 00:20:11,655 --> 00:20:14,068 - And the assembly is whip fast. 425 00:20:14,206 --> 00:20:18,517 - Our system can make up to 300 custom pizzas per hour, 426 00:20:18,586 --> 00:20:21,000 it's part of what makes our system unique. 427 00:20:22,344 --> 00:20:23,758 - No matter how you slice it, 428 00:20:23,862 --> 00:20:26,655 this system seems like the way of the future. 429 00:20:27,517 --> 00:20:30,655 [lively upbeat music] 430 00:20:33,689 --> 00:20:35,586 And Laurie's team of food scientists 431 00:20:35,689 --> 00:20:38,517 is right at the cutting edge of our edible future, 432 00:20:38,551 --> 00:20:42,827 creating teeny tiny, compressed and nutrient dense foods. 433 00:20:42,896 --> 00:20:44,896 - [Laurie] Another way that we hope to show you today 434 00:20:45,034 --> 00:20:49,482 is using a combination of pressure and ultrasonic energy. 435 00:20:50,655 --> 00:20:51,965 - Ultrasonic energy? 436 00:20:52,034 --> 00:20:53,034 - Mmh. 437 00:20:55,344 --> 00:20:56,310 - Show me that. 438 00:21:02,103 --> 00:21:04,896 - [Adam] Where would we be without the technological leaps 439 00:21:04,965 --> 00:21:07,896 that led to our favorite foods, developments 440 00:21:07,965 --> 00:21:09,379 like powdered cheese. 441 00:21:09,448 --> 00:21:11,896 To this day the military is researching 442 00:21:11,965 --> 00:21:14,551 technological advances that could bring us 443 00:21:14,620 --> 00:21:16,724 our future favorite foods. 444 00:21:16,793 --> 00:21:18,068 - [Laurie] This is Dr. Ann Barrett. 445 00:21:18,137 --> 00:21:19,413 - [Adam] Hi doc. 446 00:21:19,448 --> 00:21:22,241 - [Laurie] Ann is an expert in a novel compression technology 447 00:21:22,413 --> 00:21:24,586 called ultrasonic agglomeration. 448 00:21:24,655 --> 00:21:26,068 - [Adam] Ultrasonic agglomeration 449 00:21:26,241 --> 00:21:28,413 was first developed for the plastics industry 450 00:21:28,586 --> 00:21:30,586 but it was Dr. Ann and her colleagues 451 00:21:30,655 --> 00:21:33,241 who adapted that high technology to food. 452 00:21:33,310 --> 00:21:36,724 It uses ultrasonic vibrations and energy 453 00:21:36,758 --> 00:21:39,068 to almost melt powdered foods 454 00:21:39,241 --> 00:21:41,758 and transform it into a solid. 455 00:21:41,827 --> 00:21:45,551 - We are taking the tropical fruit powders, 456 00:21:45,620 --> 00:21:48,551 which actually contain real fruits and vegetables. 457 00:21:48,620 --> 00:21:49,965 - [Adam] Okay. 458 00:21:50,103 --> 00:21:52,413 - [Laurie] And we're going to weld them into a small chewable 459 00:21:52,448 --> 00:21:53,413 candy type of product. 460 00:21:53,448 --> 00:21:54,896 - Alright, I'm gonna watch this happen. 461 00:21:54,931 --> 00:21:56,206 - Alright. 462 00:21:56,275 --> 00:21:59,413 This has the ultrasonic horn, it's vibrating ultrasonically 463 00:21:59,482 --> 00:22:00,931 so it will make sound. 464 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,965 - The sound waves cause vibrations 465 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:04,517 on the powdered fruit particles 466 00:22:04,655 --> 00:22:07,655 so they rub against each other at a very fast rate. 467 00:22:07,724 --> 00:22:10,655 That causes friction which also causes heat, 468 00:22:10,689 --> 00:22:13,310 making the surfaces melt or soften. 469 00:22:13,379 --> 00:22:16,310 Then the compression component of the machine 470 00:22:16,482 --> 00:22:18,482 forces the heated particles together. 471 00:22:18,517 --> 00:22:20,793 So the softened surfaces can melt together 472 00:22:20,862 --> 00:22:22,137 and form a solid. 473 00:22:22,206 --> 00:22:26,275 Dr. Ann places about 15 grams of dried powdered fruit 474 00:22:26,344 --> 00:22:28,172 under the ultrasonic horn. 475 00:22:28,310 --> 00:22:31,827 [lively upbeat music] 476 00:22:31,862 --> 00:22:35,344 I heard it, I felt it in my teeth, wow. 477 00:22:35,482 --> 00:22:36,655 - See how fast that is? 478 00:22:36,827 --> 00:22:38,965 - The powdered fruit is now compressed 479 00:22:39,034 --> 00:22:41,965 into a chewy vitamin packed candy snack, 480 00:22:42,034 --> 00:22:45,137 giving soldiers the vitamin boost they need. 481 00:22:45,206 --> 00:22:47,827 And now I get the unique opportunity 482 00:22:47,896 --> 00:22:50,137 to taste one of the first foods ever made 483 00:22:50,172 --> 00:22:52,655 with the energy of sound waves. 484 00:22:52,827 --> 00:22:55,137 It's super bendy almost like a fruit roll-up. 485 00:22:59,620 --> 00:23:00,724 [sniffing] 486 00:23:00,827 --> 00:23:04,551 Hmm, it's like a Chewy Granola Bar or Chewy Nature Bar. 487 00:23:04,620 --> 00:23:07,862 I can taste mango very very very prominently. 488 00:23:07,931 --> 00:23:09,689 Hmm, and apple. 489 00:23:09,758 --> 00:23:11,862 - Mmh, so far so good [laughs]. 490 00:23:13,275 --> 00:23:15,206 - There's a faint kind of carroty note. 491 00:23:15,379 --> 00:23:17,551 - There's carrot in it, yeah. 492 00:23:17,620 --> 00:23:19,862 - This is crazy, this was powder. 493 00:23:19,931 --> 00:23:22,482 And I've already identified different real fruits 494 00:23:22,551 --> 00:23:23,413 that are in it. 495 00:23:24,724 --> 00:23:26,862 Hmm Hmm Hmm. 496 00:23:27,758 --> 00:23:30,206 Powder manifesting into food 497 00:23:30,241 --> 00:23:33,206 has changed the future of food before. 498 00:23:33,275 --> 00:23:36,827 It's beater-leaking delicious and as easy as pie 499 00:23:36,896 --> 00:23:39,724 except it's cake in a box. 500 00:23:39,793 --> 00:23:42,206 ♪ Guaranteed perfect every time you bake ♪ 501 00:23:42,241 --> 00:23:43,862 ♪ Cake after cake after cake 502 00:23:43,931 --> 00:23:47,206 - [Adam] Boxed cake mix is so common to us today. 503 00:23:47,275 --> 00:23:50,172 But before the 1930s, if you wanted a cake, 504 00:23:50,241 --> 00:23:53,241 you had to make it entirely from scratch. 505 00:23:53,379 --> 00:23:58,034 The box of dried cake mix was officially patented in 1933 506 00:23:58,103 --> 00:24:00,517 by John D. Duff from Pennsylvania. 507 00:24:00,586 --> 00:24:03,620 His molasses company had a supply surplus, 508 00:24:03,689 --> 00:24:06,620 so rather than toss it out Duff figure it out 509 00:24:06,689 --> 00:24:10,965 how to successfully dehydrate molasses into powder, 510 00:24:11,034 --> 00:24:13,241 which he mixed with other powdered ingredients 511 00:24:13,310 --> 00:24:14,241 to make cake! 512 00:24:14,310 --> 00:24:17,068 Like flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. 513 00:24:17,137 --> 00:24:19,793 His original use was for gingerbread cake 514 00:24:19,862 --> 00:24:23,448 and in a subsequent patent, he also introduced mixes 515 00:24:23,482 --> 00:24:26,620 for white, spice and devil's food cake. 516 00:24:26,793 --> 00:24:28,965 But it wasn't until post-World War II 517 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,620 that we learned to love the convenience of just adding eggs. 518 00:24:32,793 --> 00:24:35,931 This act of cracking fresh eggs and mixing them 519 00:24:36,103 --> 00:24:38,241 into a conveniently prepared cake mix 520 00:24:38,310 --> 00:24:40,448 like Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker 521 00:24:40,620 --> 00:24:44,413 made us feel like we actually baked a cake from scratch, 522 00:24:44,482 --> 00:24:47,793 without actually having to bake a cake from scratch. 523 00:24:47,965 --> 00:24:50,827 - [Presenter] A light and tender Betty Crocker yellow cake, 524 00:24:52,172 --> 00:24:53,793 perfect anytime. 525 00:24:53,862 --> 00:24:57,586 - The indispensable convenience of powdered cake mix 526 00:24:57,620 --> 00:24:59,620 revolutionized baking. 527 00:24:59,689 --> 00:25:01,689 It meant that any meal could be as special 528 00:25:01,758 --> 00:25:05,689 as a birthday celebration by just adding eggs. 529 00:25:05,862 --> 00:25:09,517 Dehydrated cake mix isn't the only dried food 530 00:25:09,551 --> 00:25:11,689 that revolutionized the food industry, 531 00:25:11,724 --> 00:25:13,827 the military has been dehydrating foods 532 00:25:13,896 --> 00:25:15,689 since World War II 533 00:25:15,862 --> 00:25:18,137 using what was then a cutting-edge technique, 534 00:25:18,206 --> 00:25:19,379 the freeze-drying method. 535 00:25:19,517 --> 00:25:23,517 And that new technique bled into now famous favorites 536 00:25:23,586 --> 00:25:27,310 like freeze dried fruits or even Nissin's instant noodles. 537 00:25:28,586 --> 00:25:32,517 But now they're working on a new futuristic 538 00:25:32,551 --> 00:25:34,862 dehydration method that sounds 539 00:25:34,931 --> 00:25:37,482 like something out of Star Trek, but it isn't. 540 00:25:39,241 --> 00:25:41,551 - [Laurie] Well come on in, this is the pilot plant here 541 00:25:41,689 --> 00:25:44,965 and I'm going to introduce you to Lauren O'Connor 542 00:25:45,034 --> 00:25:46,965 and she does product development. 543 00:25:47,034 --> 00:25:49,344 Right now she's working on new components 544 00:25:49,379 --> 00:25:51,862 for the close combat assault ration. 545 00:25:51,931 --> 00:25:53,655 - [Adam] The decades old freeze-drying method 546 00:25:53,827 --> 00:25:55,172 has been the military's go-to 547 00:25:55,344 --> 00:25:57,172 for dehydrating and preserving foods 548 00:25:57,241 --> 00:25:58,827 for soldiers on the move. 549 00:25:58,896 --> 00:26:01,586 Today, we'll get to taste something 550 00:26:01,655 --> 00:26:04,896 that has been freeze-dried the usual way. 551 00:26:04,965 --> 00:26:08,586 Then we'll also get to taste that same food 552 00:26:08,655 --> 00:26:11,241 using the newer high-tech method, 553 00:26:11,310 --> 00:26:13,931 which almost no one else has tasted. 554 00:26:13,965 --> 00:26:18,068 The first prototypes haven't even been field tested yet, 555 00:26:18,241 --> 00:26:20,758 but Laurie and her team are giving us 556 00:26:20,931 --> 00:26:24,241 the first look at this mind-blowing technology. 557 00:26:27,068 --> 00:26:28,137 [lively upbeat music] 558 00:26:28,241 --> 00:26:29,551 For decades the US military 559 00:26:29,620 --> 00:26:31,551 has funded the research and development 560 00:26:31,620 --> 00:26:33,413 of culinary advancements that eventually led 561 00:26:33,448 --> 00:26:35,068 to some of our favorite foods. 562 00:26:35,241 --> 00:26:38,137 The team at Natick Labs continues those efforts, 563 00:26:38,241 --> 00:26:40,275 investigating which way the future of food 564 00:26:40,413 --> 00:26:42,275 can be taken to the next level. 565 00:26:43,827 --> 00:26:47,137 Today, I get to taste test their latest discovery 566 00:26:47,241 --> 00:26:48,241 in dehydration. 567 00:26:49,827 --> 00:26:51,896 It could have repercussions on the packaged 568 00:26:51,931 --> 00:26:55,103 and preserved foods that we buy today. 569 00:26:55,241 --> 00:26:57,551 And it could also open up doors 570 00:26:57,620 --> 00:27:01,482 for a variety of unexpected foods in smaller sizes 571 00:27:01,517 --> 00:27:03,620 that keep longer than before. 572 00:27:04,965 --> 00:27:08,965 It's called vacuum microwave drying or VMD. 573 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:11,137 Food technologists Lauren 574 00:27:11,172 --> 00:27:13,965 is baking a fresh batch of coffee cake today. 575 00:27:14,034 --> 00:27:16,000 - This has all the typical things you'd see 576 00:27:16,137 --> 00:27:18,034 in a homemade coffee cake, which is the great thing 577 00:27:18,137 --> 00:27:21,448 about this technology is you can take a regular recipe 578 00:27:21,517 --> 00:27:24,310 and turn it into a formula for the rations. 579 00:27:24,379 --> 00:27:25,379 - This is pretty great 580 00:27:25,482 --> 00:27:27,724 for several packaged and preserved foods 581 00:27:27,827 --> 00:27:30,172 that even we buy at our grocery stores, 582 00:27:30,310 --> 00:27:32,034 manufacturers and preservatives 583 00:27:32,137 --> 00:27:34,275 that we'd never use in our home kitchens 584 00:27:34,344 --> 00:27:37,827 like sorbic acid or Mono and Diglyceride. 585 00:27:37,862 --> 00:27:42,379 But now Natick Labs is able to use just regular ingredients 586 00:27:42,482 --> 00:27:45,517 like butter and cream because they're preserving foods 587 00:27:45,655 --> 00:27:48,482 using the vanguard of food technology 588 00:27:48,655 --> 00:27:52,000 that surrounds us in this kitchen, like VMD. 589 00:27:54,034 --> 00:27:55,482 For both freeze-drying 590 00:27:55,517 --> 00:27:58,103 and vacuum microwave drying techniques, 591 00:27:58,172 --> 00:28:00,206 the first step is making the food. 592 00:28:00,310 --> 00:28:03,620 In this case, it's preservative free food. 593 00:28:03,724 --> 00:28:07,034 This coffee cake is going into the oven at 350 degrees 594 00:28:07,206 --> 00:28:09,793 and 30 minutes later it's fully baked. 595 00:28:09,896 --> 00:28:12,724 It smells so good and it smells the grandma's kitchen here. 596 00:28:12,862 --> 00:28:13,517 [laughing] 597 00:28:13,586 --> 00:28:15,206 And then like just beyond, 598 00:28:15,379 --> 00:28:17,862 there's a guy with like [laughs] an AR-15 gun, 599 00:28:17,931 --> 00:28:20,758 parachuting in guys with a 50 Cal on a Jeep. 600 00:28:20,896 --> 00:28:24,896 Next, Food Scientist Dr. Tom will slice up this coffee cake 601 00:28:24,931 --> 00:28:28,068 and separate them into two batches for dehydration. 602 00:28:28,206 --> 00:28:31,689 First is the old school freeze-drying method. 603 00:28:31,724 --> 00:28:32,896 Once the item is frozen, 604 00:28:33,068 --> 00:28:36,689 the moisture inside will have turned into ice crystals. 605 00:28:36,758 --> 00:28:39,551 Then it's placed in a freeze dryer under a vacuum 606 00:28:39,586 --> 00:28:41,586 where the dry heat is applied. 607 00:28:41,724 --> 00:28:44,172 It causes the ice crystals to vaporize 608 00:28:44,241 --> 00:28:46,551 leaving behind air pockets in their place. 609 00:28:46,620 --> 00:28:49,068 Once these coffee cake slices are dehydrated, 610 00:28:49,206 --> 00:28:51,379 they get packed into airtight pouches, 611 00:28:51,448 --> 00:28:54,517 preserving it for up to three years 612 00:28:54,689 --> 00:28:56,344 for soldiers out in the field. 613 00:28:57,724 --> 00:28:59,793 By eliminating any re-introduction of moisture, 614 00:28:59,896 --> 00:29:02,517 it virtually stops bacteria from forming 615 00:29:02,620 --> 00:29:05,137 thus preserving the foods. 616 00:29:05,206 --> 00:29:08,172 Modern freeze-drying has been the drying technique of choice 617 00:29:08,275 --> 00:29:12,758 used by the military and NASA since the fifties and sixties. 618 00:29:12,827 --> 00:29:16,241 It's the technology that brought us the creamy sweet 619 00:29:16,310 --> 00:29:20,793 yet curiously crunchy astronaut ice cream. 620 00:29:20,827 --> 00:29:22,793 This freeze-dried dessert took flight 621 00:29:22,827 --> 00:29:27,103 on the Apollo 7 space mission in October, 1968, 622 00:29:27,137 --> 00:29:28,758 supposedly. 623 00:29:28,827 --> 00:29:31,344 It turns out after all these decades 624 00:29:31,448 --> 00:29:35,103 of fawning over this novelty treated space museum gift shops 625 00:29:35,137 --> 00:29:37,931 astronaut ice cream might be a farce. 626 00:29:39,310 --> 00:29:41,275 In recent years, Astronaut Walter Cunningham 627 00:29:41,448 --> 00:29:45,586 who was aboard Apollo 7 said, "We never had that stuff." 628 00:29:47,655 --> 00:29:49,241 - So this is a freeze dryer 629 00:29:50,448 --> 00:29:52,689 and we're going to load the sample. 630 00:29:52,793 --> 00:29:54,931 - You know he's a food scientist, 631 00:29:54,965 --> 00:29:57,310 he took a tray of cake and called it a sample. 632 00:29:58,517 --> 00:30:01,137 - Close it, start operating. 633 00:30:01,275 --> 00:30:03,000 - And how long does the process take? 634 00:30:03,103 --> 00:30:06,310 - 48 to 72 hours. 635 00:30:06,448 --> 00:30:07,758 - Two to three days? 636 00:30:07,827 --> 00:30:10,517 - That's why freeze-drying is so expensive. 637 00:30:10,620 --> 00:30:12,793 - And that's why the team at Natick has been working 638 00:30:12,827 --> 00:30:14,758 with a new and improved technology, 639 00:30:14,793 --> 00:30:17,000 vacuum microwave drying. 640 00:30:19,310 --> 00:30:22,655 [upbeat dramatic music] 641 00:30:27,827 --> 00:30:30,586 - I'm now going lower the VMD samples. 642 00:30:30,655 --> 00:30:34,448 - [Adam] Okay, so regardless of freeze-drying 643 00:30:34,482 --> 00:30:38,965 or vacuum microwave drying, everything gets frozen first? 644 00:30:39,103 --> 00:30:41,620 - Yeah. - So how long does VMD take? 645 00:30:41,655 --> 00:30:46,172 - For this product it takes about 15 to 18 minutes, yes. 646 00:30:46,275 --> 00:30:48,931 - 15 to 18 minutes versus two to three days, 647 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,068 why on Earth would you ever do freeze-drying? 648 00:30:51,137 --> 00:30:52,275 - Right. 649 00:30:52,344 --> 00:30:54,655 - Natick Labs is one of few places 650 00:30:54,758 --> 00:30:57,275 preserving food using VMD. 651 00:30:57,344 --> 00:30:59,620 And once Laurie's team has cracked the code, 652 00:30:59,793 --> 00:31:03,482 we could be eating up tons of different food this way. 653 00:31:03,551 --> 00:31:06,172 And it rotates I guess during the process? 654 00:31:06,241 --> 00:31:09,517 - Correct, advantage of this one is 655 00:31:09,586 --> 00:31:11,241 because you use microwave 656 00:31:11,344 --> 00:31:13,758 so you can uniformly dry the product. 657 00:31:13,862 --> 00:31:16,827 - So is this doing both processes at once? 658 00:31:16,862 --> 00:31:18,068 It's a microwaving-- 659 00:31:18,172 --> 00:31:20,827 - And vacuuming at the same time. 660 00:31:20,862 --> 00:31:23,000 - Get you a machine that can do both. 661 00:31:23,034 --> 00:31:24,689 - [Laurie] And the other advantage is 662 00:31:24,758 --> 00:31:28,413 we don't have to dry this down all the way to bone dry 663 00:31:28,517 --> 00:31:31,689 while the freeze-dry process takes it completely dry. 664 00:31:31,758 --> 00:31:36,034 Tom can kind of decide how dry he wants to make it. 665 00:31:36,172 --> 00:31:38,068 - With the ability to adjust dryness, 666 00:31:38,172 --> 00:31:41,896 each food item has the potential to be more appetizing. 667 00:31:42,034 --> 00:31:45,034 There's some freeze-dried foods you can just add water to 668 00:31:45,172 --> 00:31:46,896 like a cup of instant noodles. 669 00:31:47,034 --> 00:31:50,517 But it wouldn't be appetizing to add water to coffee cake. 670 00:31:50,551 --> 00:31:52,862 So if this technology succeeds, 671 00:31:52,931 --> 00:31:55,551 it allows for a much wider variety of foods 672 00:31:55,689 --> 00:31:59,172 to be dehydrated and still be delicious. 673 00:31:59,206 --> 00:32:02,310 It's much more cost and time efficient 674 00:32:02,413 --> 00:32:06,586 which means dehydrated foods that are almost identical 675 00:32:06,655 --> 00:32:09,758 to their original form can be more affordable and available 676 00:32:09,793 --> 00:32:12,793 to the average consumer holding more nutrition 677 00:32:12,896 --> 00:32:15,034 and tasting better overall. 678 00:32:16,482 --> 00:32:19,896 For today, coffee cake is the prototype on the menu. 679 00:32:19,965 --> 00:32:22,758 First, we have Lauren's original bake. 680 00:32:22,931 --> 00:32:26,241 Second and third are the two dehydrated slices 681 00:32:26,310 --> 00:32:28,413 via two different drying methods, 682 00:32:28,448 --> 00:32:30,103 which is which we don't know. 683 00:32:30,241 --> 00:32:33,551 But it's amazing because they both look virtually the same 684 00:32:33,586 --> 00:32:34,896 as the original bake. 685 00:32:34,965 --> 00:32:37,413 And if the tastes are comparable, 686 00:32:37,448 --> 00:32:39,896 I could be getting the very first bite 687 00:32:39,931 --> 00:32:42,551 of the future of dehydrated food. 688 00:32:43,620 --> 00:32:44,275 - [Adam] Oh! 689 00:32:47,413 --> 00:32:48,896 - [Adam] Welcome back to the future. 690 00:32:48,931 --> 00:32:50,827 We're at Natick Labs, 691 00:32:50,931 --> 00:32:52,413 where they're pushing culinary technology to the limit. 692 00:32:52,482 --> 00:32:54,413 But while the teams here in the past 693 00:32:54,482 --> 00:32:57,758 have given us some of the greatest advancements in food, 694 00:32:57,827 --> 00:33:01,310 not all futuristic foods from the past 695 00:33:01,344 --> 00:33:02,793 have been so successful. 696 00:33:02,965 --> 00:33:06,310 Let's explore the past future of food 697 00:33:06,344 --> 00:33:09,620 as what they may have predicted right or wrong. 698 00:33:09,689 --> 00:33:12,965 - In the 1950s, a writer for Science Digest 699 00:33:13,034 --> 00:33:16,310 predicted that we would all be grazing our own beef 700 00:33:16,379 --> 00:33:18,586 in our backyards and those cows would be 701 00:33:18,655 --> 00:33:20,448 about the size of dogs. 702 00:33:20,517 --> 00:33:23,137 Radiation would have produced these mini cows 703 00:33:23,206 --> 00:33:26,310 which would be the perfect serving size for our family. 704 00:33:26,379 --> 00:33:28,482 - Maybe it doesn't take radiation, 705 00:33:28,551 --> 00:33:32,965 but some people do eat small cows by way of their calf 706 00:33:33,137 --> 00:33:34,793 aka veal. 707 00:33:34,862 --> 00:33:37,344 Another past vision of future food 708 00:33:37,482 --> 00:33:40,137 that actually became quite the success might surprise you. 709 00:33:40,310 --> 00:33:42,310 And the underlying technology 710 00:33:42,344 --> 00:33:45,655 was developed by the military's food researchers, 711 00:33:45,724 --> 00:33:49,965 the saucy restructured meat phenomenon known as 712 00:33:50,034 --> 00:33:52,275 the McDonald's McRib sandwich. 713 00:33:53,827 --> 00:33:57,310 It originally made its debut in 1981. 714 00:33:57,482 --> 00:34:01,206 It's made by taking primarily undervalued pork trimmings 715 00:34:01,275 --> 00:34:04,172 and sort of gluing it together so to speak 716 00:34:04,241 --> 00:34:06,862 which food technologists originally developed 717 00:34:06,931 --> 00:34:09,586 for the military back in the sixties. 718 00:34:11,068 --> 00:34:15,689 Now if we go back to December, 1900, Ladies' Home Journal 719 00:34:15,758 --> 00:34:19,206 published an article forecasting that in the future 720 00:34:19,275 --> 00:34:22,379 vegetables would be grown with electricity. 721 00:34:22,448 --> 00:34:25,896 But where on Earth can real life plants grow 722 00:34:26,034 --> 00:34:27,862 using just electricity? 723 00:34:27,931 --> 00:34:30,206 Well, it turns out they were right 724 00:34:30,379 --> 00:34:32,517 and the answer is everywhere. 725 00:34:32,586 --> 00:34:36,862 All you need is some water and a shipping container. 726 00:34:36,896 --> 00:34:39,862 [lively upbeat music] 727 00:34:39,931 --> 00:34:41,689 Freight Farms is a company 728 00:34:41,862 --> 00:34:44,206 that somehow created hydroponic farms 729 00:34:44,275 --> 00:34:48,724 scaled to fit into 320 square foot shipping containers. 730 00:34:48,793 --> 00:34:51,827 Today, we're getting an intimate look at one of those. 731 00:34:51,896 --> 00:34:53,068 Wiseacre Farms. 732 00:34:53,206 --> 00:34:57,896 In these tight quarters, Aviad Scheinfeld and his dad Sam 733 00:34:57,965 --> 00:35:02,103 are growing two acres of traditional farm land. 734 00:35:02,137 --> 00:35:04,758 Meaning the equivalent amount of land you'd need 735 00:35:04,827 --> 00:35:09,448 for the same amount of crops would take over 270 times 736 00:35:09,517 --> 00:35:11,275 that of this container. 737 00:35:11,448 --> 00:35:15,413 All together there are about 8,000 living plants in here, 738 00:35:15,482 --> 00:35:17,275 thanks to 88 plant panels 739 00:35:17,448 --> 00:35:20,241 hanging vertically against the container walls. 740 00:35:20,310 --> 00:35:23,965 And all of this can be done without sun, 741 00:35:24,034 --> 00:35:27,620 just like Ladies' Home Journal predicted back at 1900. 742 00:35:27,689 --> 00:35:30,931 - So in this farm instead of depending on sunlight, 743 00:35:31,103 --> 00:35:33,620 we make our own with the led panels. 744 00:35:33,689 --> 00:35:36,931 - That means the plants sunbathe every day, 745 00:35:37,103 --> 00:35:39,793 starting at 4:00 PM till 8:00 AM 746 00:35:39,965 --> 00:35:43,931 when the led lights go out and the work lights come on 747 00:35:44,103 --> 00:35:46,620 at which point Aviad and his dad 748 00:35:46,689 --> 00:35:49,758 can tend to the plants, harvest as needed 749 00:35:49,827 --> 00:35:52,275 and plant and sow new seeds 750 00:35:52,344 --> 00:35:55,448 without disrupting the natural growing process. 751 00:35:55,517 --> 00:35:59,275 It allows Aviad and his dad to deliver fresh produce 752 00:35:59,310 --> 00:36:02,965 directly to people's homes within hours of harvest, 753 00:36:03,034 --> 00:36:04,000 rain or shine. 754 00:36:05,241 --> 00:36:09,000 - Back my good days we had to plow the ground 755 00:36:09,068 --> 00:36:12,344 then we had to plant waiting for the rain 756 00:36:12,413 --> 00:36:16,620 and then in the end of spring, we came back to harvest, 757 00:36:16,689 --> 00:36:17,862 it took about six months. 758 00:36:17,931 --> 00:36:23,000 With a lot of grain in here, it takes us five, six, 759 00:36:23,068 --> 00:36:25,379 seven weeks between the time we seed 760 00:36:25,517 --> 00:36:27,000 and the time we harvest. 761 00:36:27,034 --> 00:36:29,827 So I know exactly when I'm going to get 762 00:36:29,896 --> 00:36:31,310 and what I'm going to get. 763 00:36:34,896 --> 00:36:36,862 - The technology behind container farming 764 00:36:36,931 --> 00:36:40,344 could mean we may all be Dr. Greenthumbs one day, 765 00:36:40,413 --> 00:36:43,862 never killing a plant and always having access 766 00:36:43,896 --> 00:36:46,862 to fresh produce even when the sun isn't shining. 767 00:36:48,034 --> 00:36:49,827 But now that we've had our vegetables, 768 00:36:49,896 --> 00:36:53,689 let's get some dessert, high tech dessert. 769 00:36:53,724 --> 00:36:57,310 Natick Labs is at the brink of cracking the code 770 00:36:57,379 --> 00:37:00,172 to the future of food dehydration and preservation 771 00:37:00,241 --> 00:37:04,379 with the latest technology of vacuum microwave drying. 772 00:37:04,448 --> 00:37:07,413 And I'm getting a sneak peek at their latest prototype 773 00:37:07,448 --> 00:37:08,724 with this coffee cake. 774 00:37:08,758 --> 00:37:10,068 - [Tom] There you go have fun. 775 00:37:10,137 --> 00:37:11,068 - [Laurie] Thank you, Tom. 776 00:37:11,241 --> 00:37:12,310 - [Adam] Thank you. 777 00:37:12,413 --> 00:37:15,275 I am on a blind taste test of different coffee cakes. 778 00:37:16,793 --> 00:37:18,931 One will be Lauren's original bake, 779 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,241 the other two will be two different dehydrated versions. 780 00:37:23,310 --> 00:37:25,758 One is freeze-dried, the dehydration method 781 00:37:25,793 --> 00:37:28,241 that's been used in the food and pharmaceutical industry 782 00:37:28,310 --> 00:37:29,241 for decades. 783 00:37:30,241 --> 00:37:32,586 The other was dehydrated in a machine 784 00:37:32,758 --> 00:37:36,241 that looks like it's from "2001: A Space Odyssey", 785 00:37:36,310 --> 00:37:38,551 the vacuum microwave dryer. 786 00:37:38,620 --> 00:37:42,758 If Laurie's team can make a great-tasting dried coffee cake 787 00:37:42,827 --> 00:37:47,413 using this new method, we could all be seeing a cornucopia 788 00:37:47,586 --> 00:37:49,896 of preservative-free dehydrated foods 789 00:37:49,931 --> 00:37:52,413 in every grocery and convenience store. 790 00:37:53,793 --> 00:37:56,206 So this is the fresh one that Lauren made. 791 00:37:56,275 --> 00:37:57,068 - That's correct. 792 00:37:57,137 --> 00:38:00,310 - [Adam] Okay, it feels so moist. 793 00:38:00,413 --> 00:38:02,137 Well done, Lauren. 794 00:38:06,206 --> 00:38:09,103 That's so good [mumbling] [laughing] 795 00:38:09,172 --> 00:38:11,448 - It's like kind of like pound cake 796 00:38:11,517 --> 00:38:14,482 in terms of like the richness and that stickiness. 797 00:38:14,620 --> 00:38:16,965 Oh, okay so number two. 798 00:38:18,862 --> 00:38:22,965 And this still smells like when you had the ingredients out. 799 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,965 [suspenseful music] 800 00:38:27,827 --> 00:38:28,827 Yeah I can't... 801 00:38:28,896 --> 00:38:30,758 It blows my mind that this has been dried 802 00:38:30,827 --> 00:38:32,758 and still smells like coffee cake. 803 00:38:32,827 --> 00:38:35,137 Okay, now the next one. 804 00:38:35,172 --> 00:38:36,793 Again, you would look at this 805 00:38:36,965 --> 00:38:38,482 you immediately know it's coffee cake. 806 00:38:38,517 --> 00:38:41,517 [suspenseful music] 807 00:38:43,034 --> 00:38:43,965 And I remember what you said 808 00:38:44,034 --> 00:38:47,000 that the VMD has a little more give, 809 00:38:47,068 --> 00:38:50,275 which leads me to believe this is probably the freeze-dried, 810 00:38:50,344 --> 00:38:52,827 then I would say VMD in the middle. 811 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,275 - [Laurie] That is exactly correct, you got it. 812 00:38:56,517 --> 00:38:58,655 - [Adam] What's also crazy is that in my mouth, 813 00:38:58,724 --> 00:38:59,896 I have that butter feeling and like, 814 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,896 you think it would only be manifesting the fresh one, 815 00:39:02,965 --> 00:39:05,586 but as you chew it comes out in all of them. 816 00:39:08,103 --> 00:39:12,724 What's so amazing about this is, is that the VMD coffee cake 817 00:39:12,758 --> 00:39:16,206 tasted so much like Lauren's original coffee cake 818 00:39:16,275 --> 00:39:18,517 and without any preservatives or chemicals, 819 00:39:18,586 --> 00:39:21,379 which several packaged foods at the grocery store need 820 00:39:21,448 --> 00:39:23,172 for shelf stabilization. 821 00:39:23,241 --> 00:39:25,551 There's no telling what this could mean. 822 00:39:25,586 --> 00:39:27,206 Not only for the types of food 823 00:39:27,241 --> 00:39:29,689 that may be added to our grocery isles, 824 00:39:29,862 --> 00:39:32,034 but also without having to worry 825 00:39:32,068 --> 00:39:34,206 about eating a ton of additives. 826 00:39:34,379 --> 00:39:37,379 If this is what the teams at Natick have been researching 827 00:39:37,448 --> 00:39:39,206 and developing all these years, 828 00:39:39,275 --> 00:39:44,206 the future of food is boundless not just for the military. 829 00:39:44,275 --> 00:39:45,275 We can't forget 830 00:39:45,379 --> 00:39:48,551 that the technology explored at Natick Labs 831 00:39:48,620 --> 00:39:51,862 often becomes the food industries advances 832 00:39:51,931 --> 00:39:55,206 that the American public gets to enjoy too. 833 00:39:55,275 --> 00:39:58,517 And as long as we stay inspired and keep innovating, 834 00:39:58,551 --> 00:39:59,724 the sky is the limit. 835 00:40:00,931 --> 00:40:03,206 But I think we're in pretty good hands right now. 836 00:40:03,241 --> 00:40:05,068 We've seen how facilities like this one 837 00:40:05,206 --> 00:40:07,551 are constantly pushing the technological envelope 838 00:40:07,586 --> 00:40:09,517 when it comes to feeding our military, 839 00:40:09,586 --> 00:40:12,034 we've seen the impossible become possible 840 00:40:12,103 --> 00:40:14,379 with meat that isn't meat. 841 00:40:14,448 --> 00:40:16,862 We have seen robots flipping burgers 842 00:40:16,931 --> 00:40:19,689 and we learned that size isn't everything 843 00:40:19,758 --> 00:40:22,344 when it comes to the farms of the future. 844 00:40:22,413 --> 00:40:25,034 So make sure your DeLorean has a cup holder 845 00:40:25,103 --> 00:40:28,517 because the future of food looks delicious. 846 00:40:30,586 --> 00:40:32,172 Oh my God that's pizza. 847 00:40:33,241 --> 00:40:35,344 [upbeat dramatic music]