Is bacteria the future of food? Solar Foods, a factory in Helsinki, has created a promising product called Solein, a bacterium packed with nutrients. Could it reduce our reliance on large-scale factory farming? Philip Maughan writes an informative, fascinating piece on food technology that could make a drastic impact—if countries, companies, and people around the world are ready to make a change.
All of it was delicious, and I doubt I would have guessed that all of it was vegan. If not for the recurrent yellow theme, I definitely wouldn’t have known it featured a novel ingredient inspired by the plight of lonely spacefarers en route to distant planets.
As I tried to discern what part of the meal’s overall gestalt had been supplied by homogenized bacterial carcasses, I stuck my nose inside a jar containing a sample of the dried powder. I was confronted by a memory of lying on dried dirt on a sunny day but otherwise, I wasn’t really any the wiser.
Tasting Solein was a little like meeting a celebrity. I’ve been following Solar Foods since 2020 when the company was featured in journalist and environmental activist George Monbiot’s documentary, “Apocalypse Cow.” Back then they were making Solein using a pilot process built by Pitkänen in a car garage roughly six miles from Factory 01.
