EAT LIKE A MARTIAN

Sustainable eating on other planets, and Earth

The Martian Diet. Illustration of a plate with various foods

What will People Eat on Mars?

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.

The Martian Diet

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.

1. Plants

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:

Favor low water-use plants such as beans, tomato and potato rather than water hogs like almonds (and almond milk).
Embrace GMO plants. Those approved in the USA include squash, soy beans, corn, papayas, sugar beets, potatos and apples. In 2018, Golden Rice, modified to synthesize beta-carotene, was approved for sale.
On Mars, nothing will be “natural” or “organic”; buying these products may make us feel good, but organic practices are not efficient for feeding large populations.

Recommended products and projects

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

2. Cell-based Foods

Cell-based meat

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	🇨🇦 Canada	Cell-based Meat	No products available
Aleph	🇮🇱 Israel	Cell-based Meat	No products available
Biofood Systems	🇮🇱 Israel	Cell-based Meat	No products available
Future Meat Technologies	🇮🇱 Israel	Cell-based meat	No products available
SuperMeat	🇮🇱 Israel	Cell-based meat	No products available
Meatable	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Cell-based meat	No products available
Mosa Meat	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Cell-based meat	No products available
Shiok Meats	🇸🇬 Singapore	Cell-based meat	No products available
Higher Steaks	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Cell-based Meat	No products available
BlueNalu	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based seafood	No products available
Bond Pet Foods	🇺🇸 United States	Pet food	No products available
Finless Foods	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based seafood	No products available
Fork&Goode	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based Meat	No products available
JUST	🇺🇸 United States	Meat, Egg, Mayo, Dressings, Cookie Dough	Mayo, Dressing and Cookie Dough in grocery stores
Kiran	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based Meat	No products available
Mission Barns	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based Meat	No products available
New Age Meats	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based Meat	No products available
Perfect Day Foods	🇺🇸 United States	Cow-less dairy	Ice Cream (sold out)
Memphis Meats	🇺🇸 United States	Cell-based meat	No products available

Single-cell Proteins

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	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Fillets, cutlets, burgers, nuggets, etc.

3. Insects

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.

Whole insect products & flours

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	🇦🇺 Australia	Roasted crickets, Protein powder, Bars
Zirp Insects	🇦🇹 Austria	Whole insects
Little Food	🇧🇪 Belgium	Whole insects, Protein powder
Entomo Farms	🇨🇦 Canada	Roasted crickets, Cricket powder, Snacks
uKa protéin	🇨🇦 Canada	Roasted crickets, Cricket flour
Enorm	🇩🇰 Denmark	Whole insects, Crackers, Bars
Spiselige Insekter	🇩🇰 Denmark	Whole insects, Snacks, Bars, Chocolates & more
Wholi Food	🇩🇰 Denmark	Flours, Bars, Chocolates
Ïhou	🇫🇷 France	Whole crickets, Bars
Insectio	🇫🇷 France	Whole Insects, Insect vodka
Jimini's	🇫🇷 France	Whole insects
Kinjao	🇫🇷 France	Cricket flour, Bars
Minus Farm	🇫🇷 France	Whole insects, Snacks
The Bug Foundation	🇩🇪 Germany	Insect burger
Imago insect products	🇩🇪 Germany	Meal mixes, Flours, Bars
Wicked Cricket	🇩🇪 Germany	Whole insects
Tiny Foods	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Whole insects
Acheta	🇳🇴 Norway	Insect Flour
Future Food Lab	🇰🇷 South Korea	Whole insects, Powder, Snacks
Entomos	🇨🇭 Switzerland	Whole insects, Snacks
essento	🇨🇭 Switzerland	Insect burger, Whole insects, Snacks
Eat Grub	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Whole insects, Protein powder
Krick8	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Cricket Pasta, Whole crickets, Powder
Cowboy Cricket Farms	🇺🇸 United States	Whole insects, Powder, Cookies
Cricket Flours	🇺🇸 United States	Whole insects, Flours, Snacks
Don Bugito	🇺🇸 United States	Whole insects
EntoMarket	🇺🇸 United States	Variety of whole insects and other products
Exo Protein	🇺🇸 United States	Whole Insects, Powder, Bars
Seek	🇺🇸 United States	Cricket flour, Granola, Bites
Wholesale Edible Insects	🇺🇸 United States	Variety of whole insects and other products

Other food 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	🇨🇦 Canada	Protein powder, Bars
Coast Protein	🇨🇦 Canada	Protein powder, Bars
Fit Cricket Nutrition	🇨🇦 Canada	Cricket Powder, Bars
gubgub	🇨🇦 Canada	Cricket Powders
Landish Foods	🇨🇦 Canada	Protein powder, Bars, Crackers
Näak	🇨🇦 Canada	Protein powder, Bars, Bites
Entis	🇫🇮 Finland	Snacks, Chocolates
Bug break	🇩🇪 Germany	Bars
INSNACK	🇩🇪 Germany	Bars
Instinct	🇩🇪 Germany	Bars
Swarm Protein	🇩🇪 Germany	Bars
Bugmo	🇯🇵 Japan	Bars
Eat:em	🇸🇪 Sweden	Bars, Crispbread
Crické	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Crackers
Hop Bar	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Bars
Nutribug	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Cricket Pasta, Protein powder, Bars
Sensbar	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Bars
Bugeater Foods	🇺🇸 United States	Insect pasta, Protein powder
Chirps	🇺🇸 United States	Insect chips, Powder, Cookie Mix
Sustainable Boost	🇺🇸 United States	Powders

Products for aquaculture/pets/plants

These companies produce insect-based products for non-human applications

Name	Based in	Products available
Ynsect	🇫🇷 France	Aquaculture feed, pet products and planet fertilizer