Future of Food is a free and thought-provoking exhibition at the Science Museum that runs from 24 July 2025 to 4 January 2026. While it delves into how food was produced in the past and how it is in the present, including fantastic community kitchen projects in Peru, at its heart is how food must change to protect the planet.
“We wanted to tackle the issue of food production seen through an environment lens and how it needs to change to be more sustainable,” says lead curator Rupert Cole. “The food system accounts for around a third of greenhouse gas emissions, while around 90% of the world’s deforestation is down to agriculture. That’s a massive contributor to climate change and nature loss. It’s unsustainable now, let alone taking into account future projections that suggests meat demand’s expected to double in the next 25 years.”
The exhibition introduces the problems but, says Cole, it’s very much about hope. What solutions are on the table and what pathways lead to a more sustainable future? To that end, the exhibition looks at two scientific visions for a new future of food.
“One of them’s based on biotechnology. In some ways, that’s about adapting our current way of producing foods, but in a much more sustainable way. Take the meat prediction. It’s accepting that and seeing how technology can change things.
“Then there’s the ecological side, which is saying: we need to completely rethink the food system. And that includes behavioural change as much as different ways to farm and fish. It’s more radical but we’re keen not to put them in opposition with each other. We’ve created this nice dialogue involving two visions where visitors will be encouraged to weave between them.”
Here, Cole reveals some of the highlights from the exhibition, which is both free and fascinating…
Not keen on insects? Try lentils instead
Around 80% of the planet already has insects as part of their diet. That’s clearly not the same in the west, although they feature at a low level in several European countries. There are clearly cultural reasons behind that, but nutritionally they’re great for boosting health as they contain a similar protein content to beef, with a much lower carbon footprint. In Britain there’s an exciting new company coming to market called Wriggle, who are launching cricket-based meatballs and burgers.
But, like the exhibition as a whole, we’re not being didactic about it and saying you should eat insect burgers. Instead, we’re looking for talking points. In this case, the insect option is featured in conjunction with lentils that are grown by British farmers and then turned into products via another British outfit Hodmedod’s. All three feature high levels of protein, but one [insects] might seem unpalatable, one [beef] isn’t environmentally friendly and the other [lentils and beans] could be consumed more by the majority. The insects are really a way of engaging people about where folk get their protein and what are the more sustainable options going forward, which could already be in their kitchen.
The future of fish
One of my favourite food stories is Câr y Môr, who are based in Pembrokeshire, Wales. They grow seaweed and shellfish on their sea farms, which is not only sustainable but regenerative. The seaweed takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, resulting in less acidic waters, while the scallops and mussels help to detoxify the water. Basically, they’ve created a nutrient cycle in the sea, and one that benefits humans, too.
They use methods that promote biodiversity without the use of artificial fertilisers, pesticides or freshwater, resulting in a growing sea-inspired business with a range of interesting products. They include Welshman’s Caviar, which is dried, toasted flakes of laver seaweed, and Kelpchup, which is ketchup made with seaweed. Câr y Môr also produce fertiliser, so consumers can replace the synthetic versions that are high in emissions. They’re a Community Benefit Society, too, so they’re owned by their members to create an economic, social and environmental benefit for Wales and beyond.
We’ve created a pretty large-scale seaweed farm in the exhibition featuring ropes, buoys, lantern nets and scallop shells. It looks striking.
Scan to source
When you walk into a supermarket and want to make an environmentally sustainable choice, you’re faced with a wealth of different labels and certifications that can be confusing and overwhelming. It’s also hard to ascertain exactly where your food has come from and how sustainable it really is.
IBM is one company that’s working on changing things by utilising blockchain, which is the same technology that’s used in cryptocurrency. The idea is that you’ll scan a product, like a chicken, which we use at the exhibition. You’ll then be given extensive detail on the farm where that chicken was raised, what it was fed, if it was organic, were antibiotics used… In essence, a really deep dive into a product so the consumer can make a really informed decision on what they’re buying.
It's not out there yet and might not be for several years, but I spoke to several supermarkets and they said it was something they would be interested in. But will consumers? That’s a question we ask at the exhibition because convenience is a massive factor, both when shopping for food and making snap decisions.
Empowering farmers
We worked with the Soil Association to produce a cinematic film on the topic of farmer-led research. It’s an area of ‘agroecology’, which is one step further than organic by looking at the whole ecological food system from the ground up with people at the centre. One strand of that is that farmers should be the ones who are directing and deciding what is researched rather than a top-down model. So, it’s empowering farmers to come up with research questions. The Soil Association then give them the resources to actually carry out these projects.
In the film, we showcase a few projects that look at different problems. One focuses on silvopasture (a type of agroforestry), which is the idea of introducing trees into a livestock graze landscape, of which there are multiple agricultural benefits. There’s carbon sequestration benefits, so absorbing carbon from the air, while it also provides benefits to the animals by providing shade. Depending on what woodland you introduce may offer a foraging element for the livestock as well.
Another case study examines what happens when you introduce more diverse plant species to dairy cow pasture. The cows eat a diet of herbal leys, which is a mix of grasses, herbs and legumes. There have been fears in the past that playing around with a dairy cow’s diet might negatively impact their milk, but this film shows that it actually makes the milk more nutritious.
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Plus, there are numerous benefits for nature. When the cows poo on the landscape, the microorganisms in their dung are much more diverse. That enriches the soil, resulting in improved grasslands with each passing year. There are biodiversity benefits with more pollinators attracted to the healthy environment, while it makes that specific area more resilient to floods.
We know that meat demand is increasing; we also know that cows have a huge carbon footprint from methane emissions. But this is one way of working with nature and sharing the landscape in a more ecological way.
Genetically modified food
We’re featuring a few different genetically modified firsts, including AquAdvantage salmon that was originally developed in the late 1980s; in fact, it was the first genetically engineered animal approved for consumption in America and Canada, albeit ultimately it took over 20 years to get through regulation.
The AquaAdvantage salmon features a gene that means it can grow in all seasons, rather than traditional salmon that enjoys rapid growth in summer and slower growth in winter. In essence, the modified salmon grows at a much faster rate.
We feature it in a display cabinet with its siblings who weren’t genetically modified. It’s one of the objects I love because of its simplicity. You just look at it and ask why is one salmon so much bigger than the other? Gene modification is a topic that we know gets people thinking.
Drought-resistant plants
Creating heat-resistant wheat plants is a project between the University of Sheffield and NIAB, which is the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, that could ultimately help farmers who are facing an increasing threat from droughts.
How it works is fascinating. Plants feature microscopic pores called ‘stomata’ on their leaves and stem. These stomata open to let carbon dioxide in for photosynthesis. At the same time, they also release a little bit of water. When it’s hot, the dry air immediately vaporises this water, which ultimately leaves it vulnerable to the elements. What the Sheffield team has done is create wheat plants with fewer stomata. That means they better conserve water to cool itself while maintaining photosynthesis and yield.
At the exhibition, we’re displaying a beautiful sculpture of a plant; one of the scientists has 3D mapped the leaves and recreated a large-scale version of it. We’re also displaying infrared photography that the scientist has taken to show the difference between a heat-tolerant plant and a controlled plant in temperatures around 40°C, and you can really see how the heat-tolerant plant has adapted. It’s striking.
I think they’ve still to undertake extensive field trials, but I’m aware of field trials in China for heat-resistant rice.
Book free tickets to the Future of Food exhibition at the Science Museum's website.
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Main image: insects at Micronutris, which produces edible insects, in 2017. Credit: Getty
