Students Debate Sustainable Food Solutions

The future of food was the topic discussed at “What’s on Your Plate? Towards Sustainable Food Solutions”, the latest in City University of Hong Kong’s “Sustainability” Lecture Series, held on 21 September 2018. The Department of Asian and International Studies (AIS) hosted three passionate speakers on the subject, thanks to generous financial support from CLP and the participation of Hall 10.

One of the key debates concerned whether human societies should move towards new forms of cellular and plant-based protein, or try their best to adopt veganism. Silicon Valley food entrepreneur Josh TETRICK made the former argument while Hong Kong Olympian Vivian KONG and chef Peggy CHAN made the latter.

Tetrick, founder of US$1 billion food company JUST, doubted that individuals were prepared to adopt veganism in sufficiently large numbers to reshape food production. While acknowledging to Chan and Kong that their vegan lifestyles were better for human health, he believed that only by offering appealing substitutes would consumers make the shift away from industrial grain-based meat. Tetrick outlined his company’s research into how plants can produce food products similar in taste to traditional proteins, and then did a cooking demonstration of his egg product made solely of mung beans.

More provocatively, he then played a video illustrating how his company had taken cells from a chicken’s feather and produced chicken meat. The resulting meat caused no harm to the animal and contained virtually the same nutritional profile as conventional chicken meat. Tetrick was convinced that consumers, governments and investors would approve of labgrown meat and that such products would be available within the next few years. Furthermore, he encouraged students to launch companies in the area of more sustainable food innovation.

Chan and Kong replied that a global movement now recognised that whole natural foods were the key to health and sustainability. They argued that the emphasis should be on disseminating the message that a plant-based diet would improve health and facilitate the transition to a low-carbon future. Kong also emphasised the growth in veganism among athletes and her belief that adopting a vegan diet enabled a fast recovery from a major injury and subsequent high performance.

Around 125 CityU and secondary school students engaged with the speakers during a Q&A session, and some students sampled JUST’s plant-based scrambled eggs and other menu items from the vegetarian restaurant Grassroots Pantry.

The CityU “Sustainability” Lecture Series aims to inspire students to become more engaged in environmental questions, research, networks and action. CLASS students attend these events in large numbers, along with students from a range of other disciplines. Secondary school students are also invited to attend each event in order to gain new knowledge and to become familiar with the university environment. Dr Justin Robertson is the convener of the lecture series, and works closely with AIS, CLP and the student residence to bring key issues to the attention of the university community.