1I haven't seen you for a bit, Marie.
2No. I've been busy with my project.
3You're making a vegan alternative to eggs, aren't you?
4Something that doesn't use animal products?
5Yes. I'm using chickpeas.
6I had two main aims when I first started looking for an alternative to eggs,
7but actually I've found chickpeas have got more advantages.
8But how about your project on reusing waste food?
9You were looking at bread, weren't you?
10Yes. It's been hard work, but I've enjoyed it.
11The basic process was quite straightforward:
12breaking the stale bread down to a paste then reforming it.
13But you were using 3-D printing, weren't you, to make the paste into biscuits?
14Yeah, I'd used that before,
15but in this project, I had time to play around with different patterns for the biscuits
16and finding how I could add fruit and vegetables to make them a more appetising colour,
17and I was really pleased with what I managed to produce.
18It must've been a great feeling to make something appetising out of bits of old bread that would've been thrown away otherwise.
19It was.
20And I'm hoping that some of the restaurants in town will be interested in the biscuits.
21I'm going to send them some samples.
22I came across something on the internet yesterday that might interest you.
23It was a company that's developed touch-sensitive sensors for food labels.
24It's a special sort of label on the food package.
25When the label's smooth, the food is fresh
26and then when you can feel bumps on the label,
27that means the food's gone bad.
28It started off as a project to help visually impaired people know whether food was fit to eat or not.
29Interesting.
30So just solid food?
31No, things like milk and juice as well.
32But actually, I thought it might be really good for drug storage in hospitals and pharmacies.
33Right.
34And coming back to food,
35maybe it'd be possible to use it for other things besides freshness.
36Like how many kilograms a joint of meat is, for example.
37Yes, there's all sorts of possibilities.
38I was reading an article about food trends
39predicting how eating habits might change in the next few years.
40Oh... things like more focus on local products?
41That seems so obvious, but the shops are still full of imported foods.
42Yes, they need to be more proactive to address that.
43And somehow motivate consumers to change, yes.
44One thing everyone's aware of is the need for a reduction in unnecessary packaging
45but just about everything you buy in supermarkets is still covered in plastic.
46The government needs to do something about it.
47Absolutely. It's got to change.
48Do you think there'll be more interest in gluten- and lactose-free food?
49For people with allergies or food intolerances?
50I don't know.
51Lots of people I know have been buying that type of food for years now.
52Yes, even if they haven't been diagnosed with an allergy.
53That's right.
54One thing I've noticed is the number of branded products related to celebrity chefs.
55People watch them cooking on TV
56and then buy things like spice mixes or frozen foods with the chef's name on...
57I bought something like that once, but I won't again.
58Yeah I bought a ready-made spice mix for chicken
59which was supposed to be used by a chef I'd seen on television,
60and it didn't actually taste of anything.
61Did the article mention 'ghost kitchens' used to produce takeaway food?
62No. What are they?
63Well, they might have the name of a restaurant,
64but actually they're a cooking facility just for delivery meals.
65The public don't ever go there.
66But people aren't aware of that.
67It's all kept very quiet.
68So people don't realise the food's not actually from the restaurant?
69Right.
70Did you know more and more people are using all sorts of different mushrooms now,
71to treat different health concerns?
72Things like heart problems?
73Hmm. They might be taking a big risk there.
74Yes, it's hard to know which varieties are safe to eat.
75Anyway...