The old stereotype of the techie genius was of a person who didn't care at all about food. Back in the early days of the tech craze, tales abounded of programmers and entrepreneurs who disdained healthy eating. They lived on junk food and pizza. We remember the early days of the Internet boom, and we assure you, the whole thing was run by the least healthy group of 20-year-olds you ever saw. It was soda and software, Hot Pockets and data packets, all day and all night. No one cooked, because no one ever went home. Food deliveries and microwaves fed the code-writing masses.
Whatever happened to those folks?
Whether it's a newfound acceptance of mortality among the old-timers of technology, or the rise of a very different generation of technologists, the tech leaders of today have a new attitude about food. They see food as a problem to be solved. And they see technology and investment as the key to the solution.
Here's a look at five of the more high-profile projects in which technology leaders are trying to hack the food chain.
1. SOYLENT
The company behind it: Rosa Labs
This stuff is a bit of a throwback to the I-don't-have-time-to-eat-I-have-code-to-write days of old. The idea of Soylent is to replace food with something less complicated. Unfortunately for anyone who actually enjoys eating, the idea is to replace it with a thick concoction of rice protein, olive oil and nutrients.
Soylent is the brainchild of technologist Rob Rhinehart, who has concerns about the inefficiencies of food production and consumption. Soylent won $1 million in a crowdsourced-funding campaign from folks who apparently share the belief that food needs to be streamlined. Since then tech investors Alexis Ohanian (a co-founder of Reddit) and the venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Lerer Ventures, have kicked in another $1.5 million.
2. BARNANA
The company behind it: Wholesome Valley Foods
The makers of the raw, organic, GMO-free chewy banana treats have won raves from athletes and health-food fans. But perhaps more importantly, it's also won raves from Brad Feld, the managing director of The Foundry Group, an early-stage investment fund in the information-technology space. Feld, who is a marathon runner, loves the snack and that the "majority of the Barnana team is comprised of tech guys."
3. CULTURED BEEF
The companies behind it: Modern Meadow, New Harvest and others
One of the more famous forays into food hacking is the effort to create beef from stem cells. Google co-founder Sergey Brin funded this experiment. The initial results were less than optimal. Scientists created a 5-ounce burger at a cost of $332,000. And it didn't taste very good. Still, scientists were encouraged by the results, and experiments continue.
4. UNREAL CANDY
The company behind it: Unreal Brands
We adore this stuff. It's candy, modeled on well-known brands like Snickers and M&Ms, but with only perfectly natural and healthy ingredients. You sort of have to taste the stuff yourself to believe it. It's like candy from a much better planet. Perhaps that's why it's won an endorsement from the king of technology—Jack Dorsey, boss of Twitter and Square.
5. BEYOND EGGS
The company behind it: Hampton Creek Foods
Bill Gates is the best-known of the investors who have thrown money at the maker of plant-based mayonnaise. But he's hardly the only one. Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures have also put cash into Hampton Creek.
What's the appeal? Not the mayonnaise, which is just a sort of preliminary product that hints at the company's ambitions. Rather, the investors—and Al Gore, inventor of the Internet and thus the granddaddy of all tech investments, is rumored to be joining them—are seemingly intrigued by Hampton Creek's plans to replace eggs in food production.
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