A lighter Delicacy

A Lighter Delicacy

A Lighter Delicacy

https://vimeo.com/437814748

A project that seeks to highlight the inefficiencies of our current food system, from its production methods to the way ingredients are being consumed. For all of its positive symbolism — ascension and spiritual evolution, hope and freedom.

Over 2.3 million tonnes of feather waste are produced annually from poultry production in the EU. Traditionally, this feather waste is disposed of either through landfill or incineration. Massive waste streams have affected the planet and food industry which needs to be refined and improved so that supply chains are more sustainable.

This project proposes an alternative way to manage feather waste from slaughterhouses by converting its nutrient composition into a new edible product. Chemically, chicken feathers are composed of approximately 91 protein (keratin) which contains up to eight types of the essential amino acids as we require as part of a healthy diet. It has been proved that keratin protein from feathers is safe for general consumption in our daily diet.

Chicken feathers could therefore be turned into a new delicacy replicating the quality and aesthetics of high-quality food, also a tender texture creation by unique structure in food. The structure was constructed by non-animal products same like a vegan meat making technique. Consequently, all the ingredients and selected food binders could finally form a structure that giving firmness and flexibility at the same time for this feather meat.

Under these circumstances, the physical and chemical aspects of the making could finally contribute melt-in-the-mouth texture for alternative meat eating experience. This new eating experience will trick our sensory of food perception to be more enjoyable with this healthier meat cut.

I believe that if we are to continue rearing and slaughtering millions of birds daily, then at the very least we have a responsibility to ensure that we safely and sustainably make use of every part of them.

Chicken consumption has been increased ten times over the past 50 years. By 2030, chicken meat is forecasted to be the first source of meat protein. Around 3.1 million tons of waste feathers were produced in European Union alone every year. However, improper treatment of slaughterhouse by-products will be casing pollution to the air and local water source which could be an origin of spreading of diseases. Most of the feather waste are put in incineration which causes a 57 MW poultry waste burning plant emitted levels of pollution per unit of power generated that were higher than those for new coal plants. Some of waste feathers are buried and controlled land filling

It confirms that human is not capable of degrading keratin in our digestive system. This is because the highly stable disulfide bonds that are resistant to common enzymes found in human’s stomach. In order to extract protein from chicken feathers that is save for general consumption and cause less negative effects to environment, I have then selected a biological keratin treatment that could produce edible keratin. In this research, an enzyme called Keratinase was selected and play a big role to collapse disulfide bonds and polypeptide inside the feather structure. By the process, we can harvest an extra 10 percent of protein from a chicken which means we will be able to slaughter less chicken to feed us all. Additionally, it has been proven that keratin protein contains high level of antioxidant equivalence in berries. It functions as preventing damage the cells, and anticancer activities.

My studio lab has carried out food science exploration behind cooking methods. In this phase, I intend to create a new delicacy that replicates food quality and aesthetic found in high quality food. Since melt-in-the-mouth texture could convey pleasant mouth-feel to eaters, my intension is to design a new delicacy to reach the texture and craft food semiotic to reveal that chicken feathers is now not a cheap protein source.

The physical and chemical aspects of the making could finally contribute melt-in-the-mouth texture substituted fat in food and tricked our sensory of food perception to be more enjoyable. I constructed the structure in food to mimic the collagen content in high quality meat. The structure affects flexibility and firmness as a same behaviour of collagen and protein content in animal tissue.

Food is a tool to shape peoples’ thought and food is culture, introducing a new delicacy which provides a new dining experience could be seen as an innovation that could potentially overcome the culture barrier. Identifying positive values, such as aesthetic, ecological or practical could reduce the disgust. Also, the level of neophobia will be decreased when takers were knowledgeable about health benefits and taste of the novel food. Moreover, experience and social influence could manipulate the level of neophobia.

‘A lighter Delicacy’ could protect certain resources which provides positive consequences to circular economy concept. Practicing edible feathers may also pioneer a food culture that symbolises self-development, sacrifice, bravery, visionary, and showing empathetic responses to the world. It could be a new food culture that expresses its belief and what it stands for.

Waste that causes environmental problem could be turned into a valuable product along with its design targeting to reduced greenhouse gas emission. Keratin protein could exclusively benefit: fitness enthusiasts who are seeking for a greener lean protein, people who have dairy intolerance, people who have indolent mastication. Healthy food choice could be produced to improve national health. The food system can be fundamentally changed to become more efficiently in waste management. Food resources can be efficiently utilities. These are the resilient future that this project can provide.

https://www.sorawutkittibanthorn.com