What should the food of tomorrow look like and what can Lower Saxony's agricultural and food industry contribute to this?
It is often possible to watch others cooking live in front of the camera, but it has rarely been possible to have an in-depth discussion about where the contents of the saucepan and frying pan actually come from and how they will be produced today and in the future. In September 2024, three webinars were held by the "ZERN Research and Transfer Network". The webinar series "Culinary Future Talk" was broadcast live from the Teaching Kitchen and also gave the guests watching the webinars the opportunity to ask questions in the chat, which were then answered directly in front of the camera.
Between chopping vegetables, creating sauces and sous-vide cooking, three researchers from the ZERN network explained their work on the future of nutrition in Lower Saxony (Zukunft ERnährung Niederachsen = ZERN). The ZERN network is focussing on the areas of animal husbandry, grassland use and arable farming. The initial project "Adaptation strategies for arable farming in Lower Saxony" has already been launched in the field of arable farming. Professor Bernhard Brümmer from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Göttingen took part in the first webinar to explain the necessary adaptations to changing climate and environmental conditions in more detail. Based on crops from Lower Saxony, the evening included a risotto made from buckwheat, savoy cabbage and mushrooms, accompanied by a beetroot and yellow beetroot carpaccio.
Professor Simone Lipinski from the German Institute of Food Technologies in Quakenbrück was in front of the camera for the ZERN network on the second date of the "Culinary Future Talk". She heads one of the independent junior research groups in the ZERN network on the topic of "Micro- and nanostructures of food". As this independent junior research group deals with the nutritional aspects of meat substitutes in its research, various plant-based alternatives were prepared in this webinar. These included a burger patty made from kidney beans, a "hybrid hot dog" (the sausage consists of half meat and half plant-based ingredients) with a cucumber relish and a "CrisPea Wrap". The latter is a wrap with strips of chicken fillet based on pea protein. Mrs Lipinski illustrated the complex manufacturing process of this meat substitute product with the help of a recorded video.
Dr Nina Volkmann from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation was a guest in the Teaching Kitchen for the third "Culinary Future Talk". She is head of the ZERN independent junior research group "Sustainable Livestock Farming" and is investigating, among other things, how free-range poultry farming can be improved. However, the webinar was not only about poultry research, but also about cooking with poultry. That evening there was "crispy roast chicken". There was also homemade Szechuan sauce with wok vegetables and sous-vide cooked strips of beef and a savoury potato soup, optionally with sausages.
The webinars were broadcast from one of the most innovative teaching kitchens in Germany; the Teaching Kitchen in the Jahnstadion sports park in Göttingen (https://culinarymedicine.de/tk-jahnstadion/). The state-of-the-art teaching kitchen is run by Culinary Medicine Deutschland e.V. All three webinars were moderated by PD Dr Thomas Ellrott, Head of the Institute of Nutritional Psychology at the University of Göttingen.
Click here for the video recordings.
You can find the recipes that were cooked during our webinars here:
ZERN Zukunftstalk mit Prof. B. Brümmer – Buchweizen-Risotto
ZERN Zukunftstalk mit Prof. B. Brümmer – Rote und Gelbe Bete Carpacchio