吃貨請注意:2050年時我們吃什麼？

A conference later in the summer will bring experts in the field together to discuss the future of food.
食品專家們將在這個夏季舉行一次討論有關未來食品的會議。

It’s a thorny subject. The world's population is growing, prices are rising and developing countries with huge numbers of mouths to feed - like China and India - are devouring more of the food the world produces. On top of it all nobody is quite sure what climate change will do to food production in the years to come.
食品問題是個棘手的問題。全世界人口數量在增加，特別是像中國和印度這種發展中國家的食品消耗量極大，超過了食品產出的速度。當然最讓人們頭痛的問題還是未來的氣候對食品生產的影響。

Many experts think that, taken together, these factors make a fundamental change in our diets inevitable. Here’s what we could be eating, and how we might be eating it, in the not-too-distant future.
許多專家一致認爲，綜合諸多因素對食品的影響，改變未來人們的飲食結構勢在必行。以下就是人類在不久的未來可能要搬上我們餐桌的食品。

There has been a lot of talk about edible insects recently and with good reason. According to researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands insects provide as much nutritional value as any other meat and are a good source of protein. They’re also in abundant supply.
食用昆蟲作爲一個專家們近來一直在討論的話題，結論似乎十分理想。根據荷蘭瓦格子寧根大學的研究報告，食用昆蟲和我們食用的肉類一樣，能提供我們身體所需的營養。食用昆蟲富含充分的蛋白質和其他人體所需的微量元素。

Of course, we may need to get over the yuck factor, but experts predict that insects like crickets and grasshoppers could be ground down and used as ingredients in burgers and sausages.
當然，我們必須要克服食用昆蟲那些令人反感的因素，專家們預測類似於蟋蟀和蝗蟲之類的昆蟲可以碾碎後用作漢堡和香腸的食材。

Traditionally produced meat is a real drain on the Earth’s resources and is set to become more expensive over the coming years. Some experts predict that meat will once again become a luxury item, like it was in the past.
在未來的食品結構中，傳統的肉類會越來越稀少，當然物以稀爲貴，肉類的價格在未來會很高。專家們預測，傳統肉類在未來會和資源緊張的過去一樣，會成爲稀缺食物。

That’s unless we can get comfortable with the idea of lab-grown meat. This is not science fiction. Strips of muscle tissue have already been grown in labs from the stem cells of cows. Hopeful scientists predict that eventually we’ll be able to produce meat that tastes like the stuff we’re all used to in large enough quantities to satisfy demand, though others are less confident.
通過實驗室培植出來的肉類或許更容易被接受。不要覺得這是科幻片裏的情節，通過牛的幹細胞，實驗室已經能夠培植出牛肉了。專家們表示，儘管實驗室培植肉類的提案還沒有完全的把握，然而，希望未來實驗室培植的肉類能既能滿足人們的味蕾又能滿足更大的需求量。

If they can’t get lab meat right - or they can’t produce it cheaply enough - the only option for many of us may be vegetarianism. Today, most of us derive about 20% of our calories from meat, eggs and dairy. By mid-century we’ll need to cut it to 5%, given the finite amount of water and land available for agriculture.
如果實驗肉類不合符人類標準，或是造價高昂，那麼，另一個選擇就是加大素食在人類日常食物結構裏的比重。當今，人體所需能量中，百分之二十是來源與肉類、蛋類以及奶製品。但在中世紀，人體能量中，只有百分之五十靠肉類、蛋及奶製品提供的。其餘的能量補給靠的是水喝素食的配搭。

For the poor, that means meat may become too expensive to eat. Even for the better off, it will become a luxury item. Environmental, health and economic concerns will make vegetarianism an increasingly popular option for many of us, and many more will restrict meat eating to feasts and celebrations like Christmas.
在未來，窮人可能買不起肉，只能減少甚至不吃肉。肉變成了奢侈品。處於對環境、經濟和健康上的考慮，消費素食會越來越普遍，而作爲稀缺食品的肉類也只能在聖誕節之類的節慶時候才能供人們享用。

Lab-grown meat is one area of a growing field called “food replacement”, whereby expensive, resource-hungry foods are replaced by cheaper, more environmentally friendly and often more nutritious alternatives. For example, one American company is working on producing a plant-based alternative to egg yolks, that can be used in mayonnaise, baked goods and sauces.
實驗室培植食物是一個發展中的科研項目，被稱作“食物替代”。這個科研旨在開發昂貴的、稀缺的食物的替代品，並做到降低生產成本、對環境無公害以及保證營養供給。舉個簡單的例子，美國一家公司致力於開發一種植物來取代蛋黃。這種植物可用於生產蛋黃醬、烘焙或製造調料。Algae is pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, but it can be eaten by humans and animals and can be grown in the ocean, a huge plus when farmland and fresh water are in increasingly short supply.
海藻處於食物鏈的最低端，然而可爲人類和動物食用，因爲它只需要海洋作爲培植基地，所以，在耕地和淡水稀缺時，海藻可作爲食物的重要供給。

Like insects, algae - and seaweed - could be used in food without us really knowing. Scientists have already used it to replace the salt in bread and processed food, and it will almost certainly replace other ingredients in the years ahead.
昆蟲、海藻、海帶等原料可以生產成食物，而我們不會真正意識到這些食物是這些“替代品”所生產出來的。科學家們已經將某些能夠替代鹽的原料添加到麪包和工業食品中，相信在不久的將來，我們的食物裏會有更多的"替代品“出現。

(GM) food has faced massive resistance from a sceptical public, but some scientists think GM may be the only way to adequately feed the world’s growing population in the decades to come. Next year it’s thought trials will start of golden rice: normal rice modified to produce beta-carotene (which is converted by the body into vitamin A), which could reduce the incidence of blindness and childhood disease in the developing world.
轉基因食品被廣大持懷疑態度的大衆所不能接受。然而，科學家們預測，也許轉基因食品將成爲養活越來越多地球人口的唯一出路。科學家們計劃明年嘗試轉基因大米黃金水稻的生產：將普通大米轉化成富含胡蘿蔔素的大米（胡蘿蔔素可以在人體類轉化會維生素A）幫助發展中國家人民減少失明症的發生，以及防止一些兒童疾病。

Also on the menu of the near future will be green super rice, a conventionally-bred variety, which is more resistant to disease and drought and could help feed another 100 million people.
另外，在未來的餐桌上，人們會食用一種常規培育的大米——綠色大米，這種大米更能抵禦病蟲害和乾旱，也能讓更多的人填飽肚皮。

Scientists have calculated that, at current rates of population growth, every acre of arable land needs to be twice as productive in 2050 as it is today if we’re to feed everyone on the planet.
科學家計算出，依照全世界目前的人口增長率，到2050年，耕地面積需要擴大一倍才能養活地球上的人口。

Brian Wansink, an expert on food marketing, believes that the food of the future will be healthy. He doesn’t think we’ll all have replaced doughnuts with apples, but he thinks the doughnuts will be far better for us than they are now. New techniques will be developed to take the fat from food while leaving the taste intact.
食品市場專家布萊爾.文科森，相信未來的食品會更加健康。他不認爲在將來我們會不吃甜甜圈而改吃蘋果，他認爲我們的甜甜圈只會變得更好，因爲高科技會將食品中多餘的脂肪除掉，但不失食物的美味。

The rising price of food will persuade many of us to put back gardens, allotments and even window boxes to good use.
食品價格的飆升會讓很多人從新利用自己家的後院種植蔬菜，甚至窗臺上的花盆也會成爲出產菜蔬的自留地。Experts are coming up with ever more inventive ways of growing fruit and veg in small spaces, and small-scale horticulture - already on the rise - is likely to see an explosion in the next decade or so. And it’s not just about private land. Veg-growing may well take over common land on the edge of roads or in unused green field sites. Communities will start using every inch of spare land to help produce food more cheaply.
專家們致力於研究出更多在小規模種植菜蔬的方法，很多更多小規模種植園已經在進行階段，這種小規模種植模式在將來的十年甚至更久得以迅速發展。當然這種小規模種植不僅僅侷限於私人的種植園地，很多公共區域，如路旁綠化帶和公共綠地也會被充分利用起來。整個社會會合理利用所有可利用土地種植作爲，從而降低食品價格。

Part of the problem with our eating habits is not so much the food as the packaging. We buy food wrapped in millions of tonnes of it and throw it away.
現目前，食品工業面臨的一個巨大問題就是食品過度包裝。我們消耗食品的同時也耗盡了上百噸的食品包裝，而食品包裝在消費者手上的的最後宿命就是扔進垃圾桶。

One solution is just to eat it - the packaging, that is. Harvard engineer David Edwards has already produced edible packaging for fruit juices, coffee, ice cream and other products. The packaging, made from natural food particles held together by ions, is strong, edible and can be made to taste pretty good too.
在未來，對於這個問題的解決方式就是吃掉這些包裝！就這麼簡單。哈弗大學工程師戴維德.愛德華已經開始着手可食用包裝的生產研究，咖啡、水果、冰淇淋等食物的包裝可以直接食用。這些包裝都是有自然可食用物質合成，和結實，也能做成美味的食物。

Some of these innovations may not happen, but experts are now all but certain many of them will (and some are happening already). In the next few decades our eating habits may have to radically change, for the good of our health and the future of the planet.
當然，科學家們這些大膽的創新也許在未來並不會全部實現，但其中有很多都是可行的，部分已經開始面向大衆推廣了。在未來的幾十年裏，人類的飲食習慣肯定會發生巨大的變化，當然這些變化都是有益於我們自身健康以及我們共同賴以生存的星球的。