Marije Vogelzang forces us to think about food and eating in weird and wonderful ways, and this project is no different. Currently on show at the Thinking Food Design exhibition in Paris, Plant Bones is a hypothetical scenario of meat growing on plants.
Vogelzang describes the basic premise that backs the project: “Future Archaeologists have found curious items that prove our successors will be eating meat that grows like plants.”
In our rapidly developing world of new and exciting technologies, it seems that anything is possible. Food industries are a reflection of this progress as we are faced with phenomena like lab-grown meats, food made from recycled food waste, and biomimicry. Considering all these advancements, Vogelzang’s Plant Bones suddenly becomes a lot easier to conceive.
The Dutch food designer describes a Plant Bone as a “bone-like structure, like animal bone, but it’s completely made from cellulose and it’s grown on a plant”. She proposes a future where people will be eating plant-based meats, with the same nutritional value as animal meats, straight off the bony plant skeletons.
The project encourages people to imagine scenarios in which the plant bone came about and how it would impact certain societies. Is it a product of evolution or an accidental nuclear mutation? And could it be a feasible solution to world hunger or will it blur the lines between vegans and meat eaters?
