Dig Into This Steak Dinner Made Out Of The Air Around You

There could come a time in the future when you sit down to a steak dinner only to find that the chef has whipped up the meal from thin air, and we don’t mean in a magician’s sort of way.
 
In fact, there is a real science to this new method of creating meals out of elements in the air. In particular, one company, Air Protein, is seeking to change the food industry with its novel way of making meat out of nothing at all.

Lisa Dyson, who set up the company in 2019, was inspired by a study done by NASA in the 1960s that posited the possibility of creating food for astronauts on missions using microbes and the carbon dioxide they were breathing out. Unfortunately, that research did not come to fruition and remained just a hypothesis.
 
Until now, that is. According to Air Protein, producing protein is like making yogurt and cheese. However, a concoction of CO2, nitrogen, and oxygen was mixed in a fermentation tank instead of introducing sugar or milk to microbe cultures.

Within hours, the culture turns into protein which is ready to be harvested, dried, and turned into flour. This flour is used and then churned into steak substitutes with the help of flavorings and nutrients.

And it’s not just steaks the company can make. It has thus far created substitutes for chicken, fish, and even scallops. Air Protein ensures that the food is chock-full of all nine essential amino acids, two times the amount of proteins that soybeans provide, and is free of GMOs, pesticides, and hormones.
 
Dyson was inspired to tackle the food industry in the war against climate change since it produces more carbon emissions than the transportation sector. Coming in at a strong 17.3 billion metric tons of CO2, CNN estimates it’s almost 19 times that of the aviation industry.
 
Incidentally, the world just hit eight billion people. And with the population set to inflate to almost 10 billion by the time we hit 2050, who knows how much damage eating meat will bring? As such, munching on air may not be a bad idea after all.
 
 
 
[via CNN and Air Protein, images via Air Protein]