Last year, Singapore was the first country in the world to validate the use of solein. Europe could follow in a few months.
For the first time in the world, a restaurant in Singapore has just served an entire menu based on a brand new protein called solein. Its particularity is that it is presented as the greenest protein in the world: eIt is made from CO2, water and renewable electricity.
So can we soon really live on love and fresh water? oflove, fresh water and a little gas, in any case, certainly, since the latter is necessary to produce this new protein that was originally invented by Finnish start-up Solar Foods. They started from a simple observation: almost a third of the CO2 emissions of the whole planet are linked to food. It’s all-inclusive: deforestation, agriculture, food processing plants, transport and waste management.
Natural microbes fed with CO2 and nutrients
Solar Foods therefore proposes to reduce these greenhouse gas emissions by creating a protein, still natural, but cleaner than the usual proteins, especially those that come from meat. They start from natural microbes fed in large tanks with CO2 and nutrients such as phosphorus, potassium or calcium. These microbes will ferment like yeast when you bake bread. They multiply for two or three days and then you end up with a somewhat thick, yellow liquid. Then just dry this mixture to end up with a very nourishing powder that has no particular taste. This yellow powder can be used as a base for many dishes, much like wheat or corn flour. It is not a question of suddenly eating solein.
In Singapore, two starred chefs took part in the game. They had to concoct a whole refined menu using this flour and limiting as much as possible the use of other proteins that they usually use in cooking. So no meat and no dairy products. On the menu, there was, for example, pasta with a Singaporean pesto. The pasta was made from solein. There was also smoked pumpkin in a solein and coconut milk sauce. For dessert, it was a very creamy solein ice cream with vanilla extract and roasted figs.
Singapore must import 90% of its food
Singapore has always been very concerned about the food of its population, because thehe small country does not really have its own agricultural resources. He doesn’t have enough space for breeding or harvesting. He must therefore import 90% of his food. And it is a risk: the City-State is always at the mercy of a geopolitical crisis with its neighbors or its suppliers. The authorities are therefore very curious about all these new solutions that would allow its industries to produce more food locally. Singapore was thus the first country in the world to validate the use of solein last year. Europe could follow in a few months.