Dialog in the Museum

Do we really need our current extensive range of foods to survive? How can we find our way around in the jungle of various diets? What effects do our diets have on the climate? The physicist Prof. Dr. Thomas Vilgis from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz gave an overview of just how complicated the topic of food can be when viewed in the field of tension between pleasure, health, and politics, and then turned to his key topic of scientific research: the molecular structures of our food.

As his point of departure, Vilgis cited the model of the culinary triangle with the three corners “raw,” “cooked,” and “fermented.” This model, developed by the French ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, has served as the basis of human nutrition since the Paleolithic Age and is still valid for the diets of all cultures today. The advantage in terms of health is that the three methods of preparation listed in this model cover the complete food matrix – the entire physical and chemical structure of a food that influences the availability and effectiveness of its nutrients.

In this context, Vilgis gave an insight into the intricate production process of meat substitutes. Laboratory experiments in which he and his research group analyzed two meat alternatives from the manufacturers Redefine meat and Juicy Marbles showed that their texture greatly differed from that of “real” meat. Furthermore, according to Vilgis, an important task of research is to design these substitute products with an artificial food matrix in such a way as to be also physiologically available.

“Cultured meat from the laboratory – this is probably the shape of things to come,” Vilgis predicted. In vitro meat, he continued, has the advantage that its food matrix is largely natural. But for all these characteristics, one thing should not be forgotten: “Being creative in your own kitchen is still the best option – taking consideration for regionality and seasonality, and making the fullest possible use of fruit, vegetables, and animals: You simply can’t do better than that!” Vilgis concluded.