EAT LIKE A MARTIAN
Sustainable eating on other planets, and Earth
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From Impossible Foods
Plant-derived protein may be important on Mars as a supplement to cell-based foods which are more time and energy intensive.
Sustainable eating on other planets, and Earth
From Impossible Foods
Plant-derived protein may be important on Mars as a supplement to cell-based foods which are more time and energy intensive.
Think about your current diet: how much cheese, milk, eggs, and factory-farmed meat do you eat? If you're vegetarian or vegan, imagine the water and energy needed to irrigate and harvest all those crops. Can these eating habits be transplanted to Mars? Can they be sustained on Earth?
On Mars, plants cannot be grown outdoors, and there won’t be any animals roaming around, at least for now. Water will be scarce. Will martian citizens be forced to import all their food from Earth? How long could you put up with instant coffee and reconstituted spaghetti?
Faced with these questions, we wrote a paper on how to achieve food self-sufficiency for one million people on Mars by producing plants, insects and cell-based (or cultured) meat, drawing heavily on local resources.
You can start eating like a Martian today! Well, sort of. Cell-based meat products are not on grocery store shelves yet, but a host of companies are working on making it happen within 1-2 years, while others are introducing dozens of insect-based products to North America and Europe.
The “Martian Diet” offers environmental and ethical benefits over traditional Western habits: no mass suffering of caged animals, and sharp cuts in land, water, energy use, and carbon emissions.
Most plants grown on Earth can likely be grown on Mars too, either with hydroponics or in appropriately fertilized martian soil. Plants will need to be grown indoors with LED lighting, and yields can be greatly increased by ramping up CO2 and light levels. Genetic modification will be used heavily.
To eat plants like a Martian:
The table below contains links to vertical farms and other projects that let you eat plants like a Martian. If you have suggestions to add, please email us: contact@eatlikeamartian.org.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| AeroFarms | Aeroponic vertical farms currently offering baby greens and microgreens |
| agrilution | Offers the Plantcube, an indoor mini vertical farm |
| Bowery | Vertical farm offering different greens |
| BrightFarms | Local indoor hydroponics farms offering salad greens |
| communitygarden.org | Find a community garden near you. |
| Detroit Dirt | Movement for organic waste recovery and reuse |
| Edenworks | Indoor aquaponics farm in Brooklyn offering greens and fish |
| Freight Farms | Turning shipping containers into indoor farms |
| Gotham Greens | Urban greenhouse facilities offering greens and tomatoes |
| kijani grows | Internet-enabled aquaponics kits for home-grown plants and fish |
| LettUs Grow | Custom aeroponic systems for indoor and vertical farms. |
| Plenty | Vertical farm offering a variety of greens |
| Pure Greens | Fully assembled vertical hydroponic grow systems in shipping containers |
| SproutsIO | Automated indoor growing system |
Cell-based meat, or cultured meat, is made from animal cells and involves no suffering or slaughter. Currently there are no cell-based meat products for sale, but they are much closer than you might think. Stay tuned to this page for updates in the next year or two. While you wait, try to get your hands on offerings from Impossible and Beyond Meat, available in an increasing number of grocery stores.
The table below shows the status of companies offering cell-based meat or fish products. Also consult the New Protein Landscape for a more comprehensive look at the broader ecosystem of players.
| Company | Based in | Products Available | Where to Find Them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appleton Meats | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| Aleph | ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| Biofood Systems | ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| Future Meat Technologies | ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel | Cell-based meat | No products available |
| SuperMeat | ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel | Cell-based meat | No products available |
| Meatable | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | Cell-based meat | No products available |
| Mosa Meat | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | Cell-based meat | No products available |
| Shiok Meats | ๐ธ๐ฌ Singapore | Cell-based meat | No products available |
| Higher Steaks | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| BlueNalu | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based seafood | No products available |
| Bond Pet Foods | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Pet food | No products available |
| Finless Foods | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based seafood | No products available |
| Fork&Goode | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| JUST | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Meat, Egg, Mayo, Dressings, Cookie Dough | Mayo, Dressing and Cookie Dough in grocery stores |
| Kiran | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| Mission Barns | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| New Age Meats | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based Meat | No products available |
| Perfect Day Foods | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cow-less dairy | Ice Cream (sold out) |
| Memphis Meats | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cell-based meat | No products available |
Single-cell proteins (SCP) are edible organisms made up of single cells, like fungi or algae. They can be mass-produced in bioreactors or fermentation tanks using appropriate nutrient solutions, and can provide rich sources of protein and fiber without the cholesterol and fat content of some meats.
The table below shows the status of companies offering SCP products.
| Name | Based in | Products available |
|---|---|---|
| Quorn | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Fillets, cutlets, burgers, nuggets, etc. |
Eating bugs is gross, right? Tell that to the 2 billion people in 80% of countries on Earth who consume almost 2000 species of edible insects. Turns out North Americans and Europeans are the odd ones out here. Insects provide vastly more calories per square meter than traditional protein sources, and insect flours can be used in regular recipes if you don’t want to crunch down on exoskeletons.
The table below lists insect-based products that are available for purchase, either in stores/restaurants or online. The first table features companies producing products where insects are front and center, either whole or ground into flours.
| Name | Based in | Products available |
|---|---|---|
| Grilo Protein | ๐ฆ๐บ Australia | Roasted crickets, Protein powder, Bars |
| Zirp Insects | ๐ฆ๐น Austria | Whole insects |
| Little Food | ๐ง๐ช Belgium | Whole insects, Protein powder |
| Entomo Farms | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Roasted crickets, Cricket powder, Snacks |
| uKa protรฉin | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Roasted crickets, Cricket flour |
| Enorm | ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark | Whole insects, Crackers, Bars |
| Spiselige Insekter | ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark | Whole insects, Snacks, Bars, Chocolates & more |
| Wholi Food | ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark | Flours, Bars, Chocolates |
| รhou | ๐ซ๐ท France | Whole crickets, Bars |
| Insectio | ๐ซ๐ท France | Whole Insects, Insect vodka |
| Jimini's | ๐ซ๐ท France | Whole insects |
| Kinjao | ๐ซ๐ท France | Cricket flour, Bars |
| Minus Farm | ๐ซ๐ท France | Whole insects, Snacks |
| The Bug Foundation | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Insect burger |
| Imago insect products | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Meal mixes, Flours, Bars |
| Wicked Cricket | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Whole insects |
| Tiny Foods | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | Whole insects |
| Acheta | ๐ณ๐ด Norway | Insect Flour |
| Future Food Lab | ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea | Whole insects, Powder, Snacks |
| Entomos | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland | Whole insects, Snacks |
| essento | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland | Insect burger, Whole insects, Snacks |
| Eat Grub | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Whole insects, Protein powder |
| Krick8 | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Cricket Pasta, Whole crickets, Powder |
| Cowboy Cricket Farms | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Whole insects, Powder, Cookies |
| Cricket Flours | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Whole insects, Flours, Snacks |
| Don Bugito | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Whole insects |
| EntoMarket | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Variety of whole insects and other products |
| Exo Protein | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Whole Insects, Powder, Bars |
| Seek | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Cricket flour, Granola, Bites |
| Wholesale Edible Insects | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Variety of whole insects and other products |
These companies produce energy/protein bars, protein powders and other snacks. All of them feature insects as a minor to moderate component.
| Name | Based in | Products available |
|---|---|---|
| Bite Snacks | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Protein powder, Bars |
| Coast Protein | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Protein powder, Bars |
| Fit Cricket Nutrition | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Cricket Powder, Bars |
| gubgub | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Cricket Powders |
| Landish Foods | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Protein powder, Bars, Crackers |
| Nรคak | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Protein powder, Bars, Bites |
| Entis | ๐ซ๐ฎ Finland | Snacks, Chocolates |
| Bug break | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Bars |
| INSNACK | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Bars |
| Instinct | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Bars |
| Swarm Protein | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Bars |
| Bugmo | ๐ฏ๐ต Japan | Bars |
| Eat:em | ๐ธ๐ช Sweden | Bars, Crispbread |
| Crickรฉ | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Crackers |
| Hop Bar | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Bars |
| Nutribug | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Cricket Pasta, Protein powder, Bars |
| Sensbar | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | Bars |
| Bugeater Foods | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Insect pasta, Protein powder |
| Chirps | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Insect chips, Powder, Cookie Mix |
| Sustainable Boost | ๐บ๐ธ United States | Powders |
These companies produce insect-based products for non-human applications
| Name | Based in | Products available |
|---|---|---|
| Ynsect | ๐ซ๐ท France | Aquaculture feed, pet products and planet fertilizer |