Pizza of the future made of bug dough, soil-free veggies, plant cheese

Pizzas made using plant-based cheeses, tomatoes grown without soil and flour made from insects could be the norm by 2039, according to a new report.

As the human population continues to grow, keeping the world fed and making sure that the Earth is being looked after is becoming increasingly difficult. So it’s no surprise that scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and farmers are banding together to find new ways to produce food in more sustainable ways.

To highlight how our favourite meals may change in years to come, The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair has revealed the Pizza of the Future.

Created by futurist Tom Cheesewright, the pizza looks like a regular cheese and tomato pizza – but the recipe is rather less familiar. It features super sustainable tomatoes grown all year round in LED-lit self-sufficient hydroponic farms using coconut husk “soil” and pollinated by the farm’s own bee population, and cheese made using the protein of almonds.

As for the dough base, it’s made using ground-up insects — crickets, to be exact. “Even replacing 20%-25% of the grain used for bread with a protein-packed alternative such as crickets could transform our reliance on the planet’s resources such as water, energy and land,” said Cheesewright.

And that’s just the start. Cheesewright said that, by 2069, your pizza could be made using lab-grown meats and cheese, 3D printed by a robot chef and charred with lasers.

“Your future pizza might be made from ingredients that have never seen the sun, or grazed in a field.”

Beth Elgood, Director of Communications at EngineeringUK, added that developments in science, engineering and technology are at the heart of feeding the world’s population - both now and in the future. “The next generation of scientists and engineers will be crucial to finding ways that balance the needs of a growing population with the availability of sustainable food sources,” she said.

The Big Bang Future Pizza will be available to try for free at Made of Dough, in Peckham, London on Friday October 11 from 6pm.