Inside a tech-driven S.F. tasting menu event, inspired by food 10 years from now

The meals naturally drew folks related to a few of these companies, together with the Each Firm, a South San Francisco outfit formerly known as Clara Foods that develops animal-free egg proteins, and Air Protein, a Berkeley company converting carbon dioxide into protein. The Monday occasion was interactive, stuffed with discussions concerning the environmental professionals and cons of things, in addition to find out how to prepare dinner them at residence.

To some, the dinner carried a wierd feeling that every course served as an commercial for a tech firm, with Zimberoff sharing the gross sales pitch and detailing the place to purchase every product. The rationale could merely be as a result of diners aren’t used to listening to about tech firms after they’re consuming. But it surely wasn’t so completely different than going to a stylish farm-to-table restaurant and seeing the names of ranches and orchards on the menu.

Right here’s a more in-depth have a look at the six programs served at these dinners, ready by native chef Phil Saneski. Collectively, they function a uncommon snapshot of what’s occurring within the meals tech trade proper now, what’s nonetheless rising and whether or not the longer term tastes any good.

Kale Caesar: It regarded like a traditional salad, and it tasted like a traditional salad, too. The futuristic facet comes from the greens, grown in South San Francisco firm Plenty’s LED-lit vertical farms. A lot touts its capability to develop produce year-round whatever the climate, however the indoor farms require plenty of power.

Whereas Zimberoff mentioned she doesn’t look after the vertical farm’s kale, which seems unusually delicate as a result of it doesn’t should battle any components, it labored nicely in a salad dressed with garlicky cashew-based cheese from Sonoma’s Miyoko’s Creamery. Bacon crumbles added bits of crunch and smoke, courtesy of Berkeley’s Prime Roots, which grows protein out of koji, a fungi additionally used to make sake and soy sauce.

A lot’s greens and Miyoko’s cheeses are offered broadly at Bay Space grocers. Prime Roots was promoting on to customers online however is at present on hiatus.

Beet tartare: Dicing up crimson beets and calling it a tartare, a nod to the standard beef model, isn’t significantly new. However the topper of spring onion-laced cream cheese obtained the eating room speaking. It was wealthy, creamy, clean and barely candy, identical to dairy cream cheese. Might it actually be vegan?

The cheese comes from Berkeley’s Good Day, which made a splash when it released its first $20-per-pint cow-free ice cream in 2019. The corporate creates actual dairy proteins by fermenting fungi, then mixing the 2 proteins in dairy — whey and casein — with elements like coconut oil and potato starch to create, say, cream cheese. The cream cheese, underneath Good Day’s new label referred to as Trendy Kitchen, isn’t in shops but however may be pre-ordered online. At $10 per 8-ounce bundle, it’s considerably pricier than customary cream cheese.

The crackers on the aspect, in the meantime, got here from Netzro, a Minnesota firm targeted on decreasing meals waste through the use of elements like spent grain. Whereas noble in mission and wealthy with fiber, the crackers have been dense and difficult. Spent grain is difficult to work with, Zimberoff defined, as a result of there’s no gluten.

Rooster and waffles with blue syrup: The vegan drumsticks from Albany’s Sundial Meals include pores and skin and bone, a notable break from the bottom meat merchandise that dominate the vegan meat scene. A younger firm, Sundial doesn’t have something in the marketplace but, however you possibly can count on to see its rooster subsequent 12 months. The bone felt like a bamboo stick, whereas the internal meat was harking back to the wheat gluten-based fake meats widespread in vegan Chinese language eating places, besides it’s made with chickpeas. Most spectacular was the crunch on the pores and skin, which ripped aside in a delightful, carnivorous means.

The crispy-chewy waffle featured Oakland firm Renewa Mill’s okara flour, an upcycled ingredient that makes use of the soybean pulp byproduct of the tofu-making course of. But it surely suffered from a standard vegan baking plight: a harsh aftertaste from an excessive amount of baking powder. (Renewal Mill’s merchandise are offered broadly in Bay Space grocery shops.)

In the meantime, the vivid blue coloration of the shiny syrup comes from spirulina, a nutrient-dense microalgae that’s offered online in powder type by Los Angeles outfit Spira. It didn’t style like a lot, which isn’t essentially a foul factor given the entire protein, nutritional vitamins and minerals it incorporates.

Pasta carbonara: Given extruded pastas are sometimes vegan already, it wasn’t too shocking to see Comply with Your Coronary heart’s vegan egg alternative within the bucatini. And the cashew-based garlic herb cheese from Miyoko’s labored as a melted-down cream sauce. (Each merchandise are straightforward to search out in grocery shops.)

Essentially the most fascinating addition was the bacon from San Francisco’s Hooray Meals, which is produced from coconut oil, tapioca starch, rice flour and liquid smoke. Baked within the oven, it got here out crunchy like toffee — not precisely like pork bacon, however nonetheless a satisfying texture and purveyor of salt, fats and smoke. It’s offered at Entire Meals and a few impartial grocery shops within the Bay Space.

Steak: The grand savory finale, this steak considerably regarded the half with browned edges and crimson flesh nevertheless it’s produced from fungi. It’s the creation of West Sacramento’s Higher Meat Co., which plans to promote its protein to different plant-based firms to make merchandise. Higher Meat feeds sorghum, which is a standard grain, and potatoes to mycelium, fermenting the thread-like fungi till it grows into one thing resembling an entire reduce of meat.

“It regarded like a New York steak, and it acted like a New York steak,” chef Saneski mentioned. He paired it with a restaurant-like unfold of carrot puree, a chimichurri produced from carrot tops, a crimson wine discount sauce and Brussels sprouts.

The flavour was pure umami, although not particularly of beef. Texture-wise, Zimberoff mentioned the steak wasn’t as convincing as earlier variations she’s had from Higher Meat — too tender, too mushy, type of like a meat cooked to submission in a sous vide with none sear. That mentioned, she thinks mycelium may very well be the following tofu or tempeh, a plant-based protein that instructions the middle of the plate.

Baked Alaska: With a base of crisp shortbread made with cashew-based Miyoko’s butter, this baked Alaska’s solely vegan inform was its excessive stage of sugar. Vegan butter wants extra sugar than most to cream, Saneski mentioned. The bruleed shell of meringue was additionally very candy however maintained its texture regardless of utilizing the leftover bean liquid often called aquafaba, which is much less secure than egg whites. The trick is to whip the aquafaba longer than you’d suppose — like a full quarter-hour, in accordance with Saneski.

The butter pecan ice cream got here from Courageous Robotic, a Good Day label, and was simply as dairy-like because the cream cheese. It’s offered at Fortunate, Mollie Stone’s, Sprouts and a few impartial markets within the Bay Space.