Synthesis and Kita Food Festival hold first session of The Future of Food

The Future of Food Series 2025, organised by Synthesis and Kita Food Festival, launched the first in a series of seminars on Monday, 20th January.

The series consists of a novel format including three test-kitchen seminars and a symposium exploring what we are likely to be eating ten years from today. 

Synthesis is a Singapore-based brand strategy consultancy that creatively brings together public data in unexpected ways to expose opportunities and help prepare businesses for the future. The  Kita Food Festival is an exploration and celebration of food in Southeast Asia that brings together some of the region’s leading chefs and culinary minds. 

The Future of Food aims to reveal how populations and climate change will dramatically reshape our diets in the next decade and spotlight future solutions. 

This year’s event built upon Synthesis’ research, Menu 2034, which modelled 100,000 possible versions of the world in 2034 to spotlight two possible futures: radical transformation, where we turn to tradition and regenerative agriculture to live within planetary boundaries, and resilient adaptation, where innovation, science and technology help us create novel foods to thrive in changing environments.

Dealing with evolving resources 

The first test kitchen with the theme of Source took place at the Synthesis Creative Data House, focusing on where to source food to raise production in a resource-challenged world. 

Currently, more than 50 percent of the world’s calories come from three plants: rice, wheat, and corn. 

Considering that about 30,000 plants are edible by humans, diversifying our nutrition is crucial to build resilience in a world where food systems are increasingly under pressure due to climate change-induced extreme weather events.

Polycropping also helps enhance soil health in the long term. 

Around 75 guests from across the food chain explored various immersive stations and sampled foods of the future including seaweed and cricket hazelnut madeleines, Vertical Ocean prawn milk rolls, crudités with climate-resilient plants from the Singapore wet market and Blueyou Selva Shrimp oat congee. 

Chef Christopher Kong of Dearborn and his team crafted creative future-resilient dishes for the guests and chef Oliver Truesdale-Jutras introduced climate-consequential wines, offering guests a taste of what to come. 

The event also included an engaging panel discussion featuring René Benguerel, CEO at BlueYou (Switzerland); Enzo Acerbi, CTO at Vertical Oceans (Singapore); Nithiya Laila, culinary anthropologist (Hong Kong, Singapore); Didier Chanove, innovations lead at Kerry Group (Singapore); and BE WTR managing director Christian Lukey (Singapore). 

Benguerel said: “We need to go back to local knowledge and cultural heritage to innovate nutrition habits and become climate resilient.

Laila, on the other hand, underlined the importance of avoiding the temptation to chase perfection from ingredients by being flexible and experimental when eating and cooking.”

Immersion into the future of food

Reflecting on the success of the event, Synthesis founder Lee Fordham said: “Knowledge and data are important, but knowledge doesn’t change behaviour. Our mission of this Series, in partnership with Kita, is to immerse people in the future, and through dialogue and collaboration, spark change through clarity and shared vision.” 

The  upcoming test kitchens will explore the biggest impact areas; ‘Stretching’ the food we already have and ‘Finding Sustenance’ in the future of food. 

Fordham added: “We’re also very excited about the Symposium, which will take place at New Bahru, with the participation of industry leaders from scientists and food innovators to farmers and anthropologists.”

Kita Food Festival co-founder Darren Teoh remarked: “I think it’s fascinating that we’re at a point in human history where the very systems we’ve created to sustain ourselves are now causing so much harm. The recent Synthesis and Kita dialog surrounding food sourcing really brought this to light. The world is grappling with issues like monocropping, the loss of biodiversity, and access to truly nutritious food; and, in many cases, just food itself. What stood out to me was seeing the panelists, each in their own way, tackling these challenges. It’s encouraging to witness people working through these complexities and contributing to what is, ultimately, a collective effort: a jigsaw solution that we’re all piecing together.”