The term new food It may sound like another gastronomic fad, but it is a collected concept and defined by the European Union. Also known as “foods of the future”, they are raw materials that are gradually finding a niche in our kitchen, but are still unknown for the majority. And that is the challenge that the MasterChef hopefuls will face, preparing a recipe with them.
The use of the word novicerather new (“new”, in English), is not accidental, since it not only refers to something new, but also to what is unusual, unconventional and innovative. That is, a food or product cataloged as new food is one that, currently, is not linked to a traditional use in terms of its consumption or use in the kitchen, at least until a specific date.
According to the regulations established by the European Union, an ingredient or raw material is considered new when it was not regularly consumed or used in the member countries. before May 1997. Migratory movements, globalization and trends also associated with commercial and economic interests have led to the exchange of new ingredients between countries and continents, since ancient times.
The discovery of America is the clearest example to understand how the arrival of previously unknown foods would change forever our food, with the arrival in Europe of corn, potatoes, tomatoes or cocoa, for example, without forgetting rice, coffee or pasta.
More recent are the examples of chia and quinoa, which in just a few years have carved out a significant niche in our market, or fruits such as avocado or pitahaya. These new products are also interesting from the point of view of future food sustainabilitylike insects.
Also included in this definition new substances or additives used to modify or transform the properties of foods (texturizers, preservatives, colorants…) and foods produced by new methods that change their original characteristics, as happened with smoked meats and fish in their day, or fermented ones.
In order to be able to market these products in the member countries, the European Union must study, assess and approve their use based on three principles fundamental:
- They must be completely insurance for the consumers.
- They must be properly taggedso as not to mislead consumers, following the current legislation applicable in each case.
- If the novel food is intended to replace another food, it must not differ in such a way that the consumption of the new food is disadvantageous from the nutritional point of view for the consumer.
Many chefs are becoming interested in these new foods, sometimes recovering products that have already been forgotten or that are very local and marginal, and other times researching and discovering new subjects raw materials or developing innovative methods to transform those ingredients. This is the case of media figures such as Ángel León or the chefs Oriol Castro and Mateu Casanasfrom Enjoy (Barcelona), who precisely attend MasterChef as guests.
The applicants for this tenth edition will face a first challenge in the form of mystery box under which they will find nine ingredients of which they must use at least six, adding, in addition, one of the products cataloged as new food or foods of the future that the program has selected.
Eurogarden – Vitalfood seeds to grow. Healthy and natural seeds. (VITALFOODS Purslane)
Among them, some ingredients that are increasingly widespread in Spain stand out, such as nopal (the cactus leaf, typical of Mexican cuisine), enoki and maitake mushrooms, purple ube (a tuber) or okra (a fruit with a similar appearance pepper and zucchini from Africa), with nutritional properties very interesting that may have a lot to say in the kitchen of the future.
Images | Unsplash – Producers Fair
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