Dr. Johnny Drain’s Future-proof Foods: How to redefine waste through taste
How we produce and consume food is inextricably tied to our future, yet our current food systems are far from future-proof. The UN ascribes ⅓ of global greenhouse gas emissions to food production (1) . Of that food, they calculate 38% to be wasted (2), yet according to UNICEF over 3 billion people remain undernourished worldwide. (3) These prohibitively high figures are symptomatic of fundamental inefficiencies: from standardisation that eschews imperfection; to misinformation around spoilage; to the loss of knowledge in preparation - food waste is rampant.
Part of this problem lies in our notions of what waste is. Rooted in the Latin vastus, meaning ‘unoccupied, or uncultivated;’ waste’s contemporary definitions include: to ‘expend carelessly;’ or an ‘unusable material.’ As its etymology suggests, human consumptive habits underlie our notions of ‘waste,’ and can thus be highly mutable in their artificiality.
Apt, then, that Dr. Johnny Drain begins his Gramounce Expeditions seminar by posing the question: “What is food?” Though his query might seem simple, its brevity belies its complexity. As one of our most fundamental needs, Johnny believes food to sit at the nexus of everything, which gives it the potential to impact widespread change.
Johnny Drain
Johnny began his culinary journey as he finished his PhD in material sciences from the University of Oxford. From this vantage, he posited food as a material—both literally and theoretically—to innovate our thinking around consumption. The study of material sciences, as its moniker suggests, involves the research and discovery of new materials. As a discipline, it sits at the confluence of chemistry and physics, from which it explores anything: from metallurgy and mineralogy; to—in Johnny’s case—cooking and cuisine.
After his doctorate, he took a role as researcher for one of the most recognised names in cuisine: Noma, where he explored how to push the limits of fermenting food. Noma launched Johnny down an illustrious path, from Michelin starred restaurants and award winning bars; to the world’s first waste-free eatery. Yet, in spite of this acclaim, he remains decidedly grounded in his determination to affect change. To hear him speak about his work is to see someone truly inspired: not lost in academia or blinded by accolade; but instead relatable and affable. The accessibility this engenders is invaluable to his mission, which looks to reshape the everyday person’s consumptive habits by inspiring them through innovations in deliciousness.
Cue fermentation: a process of microbial collaboration which transforms and manipulates materials, making previously inaccessible nutrients bioavailable. In effect, it makes the uneatable eatable. This has been central to Johnny’s work, which employs fermentation to address how we might better manage food waste through resource management; innovations in processing; and a reassignment of value to our notions of waste.
During his seminar, Johnny quotes Silo chef Douglas McMaster, and architect Thomas Rau, who define waste as “a failure of the imagination;” and “a material without an identity,” respectively. From these quotes he distils his own: “Waste is a material stripped of context and purpose.” Food waste compounds climate emergency in the unnecessary use of resources its production engenders. Of the emissions the UN calculates to result from food production, ⅕ (6% of global emissions) is needlessly squandered in producing food we do not eat.
Pickle plate by Johnny Drain
Many of us are so used to hearing these dismal facts and figures, that we have become numb to their doom-mongering; so Johnny seeks instead to inspire change through deliciousness. Here, fermentation again takes the fore, for it can be used to translate previously disregarded elements of a resource into useful byproducts. Taken a step further, this thinking can be used to—as Johnny puts it—‘design out waste.’ This means predicting potential wastages, and eliminating them before they are made.
Waste thus becomes analogous with use, translating materials from superfluous to beneficial; excessive to lucrative; inedible to edible. In chemistry, an ‘analogue’ is a compound with a molecular structure closely similar to that of another. Johnny treats cuisine in the same vein, manipulating ingredients to mimic the flavour profiles and textures of one another.
WNWN Food Labs - Cacao Free Chocolate
Enter WNWN Food Labs, a start-up co-founded in 2020 by Johnny and former-financier-cum-fermenter Ahrum Pak which makes analogue ‘cocoa-free chocolate.’ Mass-market cocoa is heavily entangled with modern slavery, deforestation, and food scarcity. Their product instead relies on what Johnny calls the 'alt-universe' of flavour, while also supporting equitable industries in the countries that supply most of the world's cocoa.
WNWN’s ‘cocoa-free chocolate’ is just one example of how Johnny puts flavour first. He firmly believes in the power of taste to communicate, and its potential to affect change in future-proofing our food. From his training in material sciences; to his experience at the forefront of cuisine, he is leading tongue-first in redefining food through deliciousness.
(1) https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086822
(2) https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day
(3) https://data.unicef.org/resources/sofi-2022/
