Watch All of the Food Loves Tech 2017 Panel Discussions and Kitchen Demos

food loves tech
Saxon + Parole served the Impossible Burger: a cultured meat made entirely from plants.

Mail carriers entering your home to stock your fridge, groceries at your doorstep via drone, plant-based meat that “bleeds”—if this is increasingly how we’re eating now, then what can we expect in 2020? 2050? And given a growing world population and climate change concerns, which of these innovations do we actually need?

These are only a sampling of the big questions we explored last month at Food Loves Tech (FLT): our all you can eat and drink Industry City expo where you can test drive food technologies from field and sea to next gen frontiers. Think of it as a one-stop shop to try Buzzfeed’s Tasty One Top, greens from indoor farms, beer made from surplus bread and more.

This year’s FLT had three main components: the expo, a feedfeed test kitchen powered by Vitamix and a panel series.

Chef Suzanne Cupps of Untitled and feedfeed co-founder Julie Resnick prepare honey-roasted carrots, cashew butter and puffed grains.

As our expert panel discussing how technology can make us better home cooks acknowledged, Vitamix is a leading example of how much tech experienced home cooks want (other than the actual Vitamix employee on the panel, no one was paid to say this, promise). It is pricey but can go well beyond juicing and make nut butters, pesto and, yep, even face masks. Feedfeed co-founder Julie Resnick helped lead these demos and more with top-notch kitchen talent, including chef Suzanne Cupps of Untitled, Michael Chernow of the Meatball Shop and Seamore’s, Winston Chiu of Bonbite and Little Tong (just named one of Pete Wells’s top New York restaurants of 2017), Brad Farmerie of Saxon + Parole, Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern and members of the feedfeed community. Watch all the demos here.

Scientist and author Marion Nestle describes genetics’ role in the food supply alongside former White House chef Sam Kass (left) and Gramercy Tavern executive chef (right) Michael Anthony.

Across the way, a cohort of the food world’s sharpest thinkers addressed some of the biggest challenges facing our food future: What is the role of genetics in the food supply? How should we grow food for the future? How can tech help save our oceans? Experts including former White House chef Sam Kass, author and scientist Marion Nestle, Food Tank president Danielle Nierenberg and New York City Department of Sanitation director of policy and senior adviser Elizabeth Balkan took on these questions and more, helping the audience understand these daunting issues. Watch all the panels here.

Future of the Cocktail attendees sample the Belvedere Vodka ice luge.

And what would any one of our events be without an all-you-can-drink beer, wine and cocktail tasting? After day one, we assembled a room of some of our favorite bartenders and drink makers to showcase some of the more delicious ways that tech is entering this supply chain. Big brands including Bulleit Bourbon and Belvedere Vodka discussed tech’s growing role in their companies while local businesses like White Moustache—the beloved Persian-style yogurt maker—mixed drinks with whey that would have otherwise gone to waste. There was even a rare Mike Anthony-sans-chef’s-whites sighting behind the Gramercy Tavern bar, cocktail shaker in hand.

Our dozens of expo vendors were the fuel behind FLT, though, prompting conversations and proposing delicious solutions for our very near food and drink future. We couldn’t have hosted the event without them:

Want to attend the next Food Loves Tech? Mark your calendar for Friday, November 2—Saturday, November 3 2018 at Industry City. Interested in participating? Email us at foodlovestech@ediblemanhattan.com.

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