Nutrition as a means of life

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May 16
4 min read

Tenth enter the future event: "Food for the future - raw vegetables or high-tech meals?"

09.05.2025

The tenth edition of the Wittenstein Foundation's "enter the future" series of events was dedicated to one of the most pressing issues of our time: "Food for the future - raw vegetables or high-tech meals?" Last week, two renowned experts and an interested audience met at the TauberPhilharmonie Weikersheim to discuss nothing less than how to feed the world's population of tomorrow.

Both speakers work at the University of Hohenheim: Professor Dr Jan Frank as Head of the Department of Food Biofunctionality and Professor Dr Mario Jekle as Head of the Department of Plant-Based Foods. The evening was moderated by Benedikt Hofmann, Editor-in-Chief of MM MaschinenMarkt.

Technological openness on the plate too

At the event, Dr Manfred Wittenstein, founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Wittenstein Foundation, emphasized how closely linked agriculture, nutrition and technological innovation are today. Nutrition is increasingly becoming not only an ecological but also a social focal point: it is both a driver and a victim of climate change. "Our future depends crucially on how we handle natural resources and utilise technological potential," said Wittenstein.

While around 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to food and agriculture - due to resource-intensive meat production and food waste, among other things - yields are simultaneously coming under pressure from drought, extreme weather and soil degradation. What's more, ten billion people are expected to need to be fed by 2050 - with an increasing demand for protein, the basic building block of our lives.

Diversity instead of monotony: new ways of obtaining protein

In their keynote speeches, the two speakers focussed on plant-based and alternative protein sources. In addition to traditional sources such as pulses, nuts and cereals, microbially produced proteins from algae, yeast, fungi or bacteria are becoming just as important as insects and cultured meat. The vision: a varied diet that uses fewer resources and remains healthy at the same time.

This was exemplified by a 3D-printed salmon substitute made from mushroom protein - technologically fascinating, but nutritionally critical as it is highly processed. In fact, around 50 per cent of our daily calorie intake already comes from highly processed products, which are often low in vitamins, fibre and minerals but high in fat, sugar and salt - with consequences for our health: diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure are on the rise worldwide.

The solution does not lie in a dogmatic "either - or", but in a conscious "both - and": more unprocessed, plant-based food, supplemented by modern technologies for targeted enrichment, preservation or shaping - such as 3D printers that only produce what is actually needed. This can offer enormous advantages for canteens, hospital catering or special diets.

Personalisation and education

Another future field: personalised nutrition. Although genetic and microbiological analyses already make it possible to determine individual nutritional requirements, their implementation remains complex, cost-intensive and a dream of the future for the time being. Nevertheless, nutritional habits are formed early on. The speakers therefore emphasised the importance of educational opportunities - from nursery to adult education - in order to create openness towards new foods and technologies.

Education is key to promoting acceptance - because: "No one needs to be afraid of the future on their plate." The core message of the evening: the diet of the future is not "one size fits all". It will be individualised, open to technology and based on health and ecological guidelines. More vegetables, fruit, pulses and nuts, less sugar and meat - this is the roadmap for a more sustainable and healthier food culture. Flexible instead of extreme, informed instead of ideological - and with the courage to break new ground.

Upcoming events of the Wittenstein Foundation

On 22 May, the "shifts in perspective" format will focus on the digitalisation of people, while on 30 October, the success of the German business model will be put to the test at another "enter the future" event. The recordings of all enter the future events can be found at www.wittenstein-stiftung.de.

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Image source: Wittenstein Foundation / Michael Pogoda

Pictured from left to right: Benedikt Hofmann (moderator and editor-in-chief of MM Maschinenmarkt), Prof Dr Mario Jekle, Prof Dr Jan Frank (both from the University of Hohenheim) and Dr Manfred Wittenstein (founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Wittenstein Foundation).