“For the times, they are a changing”

I’ve loved this song since I first heard it. Not just for the words, or the tune, but for the message it carries.

Things change, people change, accept it or prepare to fight.

Often my thoughts will wander in and out of particular mindsets, this week was  a futurist mindset from start to finish.

The future of food is something I’ve talked about before, but I’ve reached a new place of understanding. A digital one.

See people thought food was immune to the 21st century antics of technology. They were wrong. Food, despite how basic of a necessity it fulfills, is the perfect candidate for renovation…no, revolution.

Look around and you’ll see areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco brimming with services like Blue Apron, AmazonFresh, and Soylent populating the American Dinner Plate. These services offer customized, individualized, tailored to you food. In some cases within 24 hours notice.

So what is it I see in these services? Change.

The American dinner plate is no more immune to technological advancement than your latest iPhone or tablet. In many cases, it is more primed to experience it’s first boom.

So, what can we expect to see? My friends, grab a seat.

Customized diet is the way of the 90’s and 2000’s, we’re approaching  the era of customized food, preselected by diet.

Low carb diet….

Meet your 21st century alternative.

Gluten free? No problem. No need to shop in the store, we ship only gluten free meals to your door.

Particular allergy? No worries, just input which ones you need to avoid and the computer will sort it out.

Don’t have time to eat? Powdered Foods it is.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen groceries-to-your-door kind of services, but I can say this time it feels different. People are more receptive already, and it’s barely begun.

I am all for educating the people about nutrition and diet awareness. The truth is that the vast majority will never work up the motivation just to eat healthfully, much less educate themselves about nutrition. So what will they do?

They’ll tell the web-service, “I want to lose weight, follow a paleo diet, and get rid of gluten”. Lo and behold, the site will then give them daily selections for whichever meals qualify. Make a choice at lunch and it’s delivered to your house by the time you get home. No cooking, no thinking, just quick, healthy, and fast meals.

That, my friends, is the crazy beautiful world we’re starting to see.

Until next time,

Be good to each other.

– Joshua Iufer, RD