Fungal fermentation for upcycling waste into climate-smart, nutrient-dense, and delicious foods
Food and agriculture cohort
Team: Vayu Hill-Maini, Justin Sonnenburg, Steven Davis, Taylor Hanh Nguyen, Braydon Black (Accelerator Postdoctoral Fellow), Franklin Peace Lurie
As much as 40% of food is wasted, contributing gigatons of unnecessary emissions to the atmosphere. At the same time, animal agriculture produces emissions many times that of other forms of food production. This project aims to address each of these impact areas through the upcycling of abundant food production byproducts (side streams) into a new generation of climate-smart foods. The project will harness fungal solid-state fermentation to create new foods that deliver on cost, flavor, nutrition, and sustainability.
The global population could approach 10 billion by 2050. How do we feed that many people in an equitable, sustainable, and nutritious way? Stanford bioengineer Vayu Hill-Maini is turning to “nature’s recyclers” for answers as part of work supported by the Accelerator.
Stanford researchers are studying how changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, and ecological shifts affect the global food system, while developing ways to improve food security for all.