吃货请注意:2050年时我们吃什么？

A conference later in the summer will bring experts in the field together to discuss the future of food.
食品专家们将在这个夏季举行一次讨论有关未来食品的会议。

It’s a thorny subject. The world's population is growing, prices are rising and developing countries with huge numbers of mouths to feed - like China and India - are devouring more of the food the world produces. On top of it all nobody is quite sure what climate change will do to food production in the years to come.
食品问题是个棘手的问题。全世界人口数量在增加，特别是像中国和印度这种发展中国家的食品消耗量极大，超过了食品产出的速度。当然最让人们头痛的问题还是未来的气候对食品生产的影响。

Many experts think that, taken together, these factors make a fundamental change in our diets inevitable. Here’s what we could be eating, and how we might be eating it, in the not-too-distant future.
许多专家一致认为，综合诸多因素对食品的影响，改变未来人们的饮食结构势在必行。以下就是人类在不久的未来可能要搬上我们餐桌的食品。

There has been a lot of talk about edible insects recently and with good reason. According to researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands insects provide as much nutritional value as any other meat and are a good source of protein. They’re also in abundant supply.
食用昆虫作为一个专家们近来一直在讨论的话题，结论似乎十分理想。根据荷兰瓦格子宁根大学的研究报告，食用昆虫和我们食用的肉类一样，能提供我们身体所需的营养。食用昆虫富含充分的蛋白质和其他人体所需的微量元素。

Of course, we may need to get over the yuck factor, but experts predict that insects like crickets and grasshoppers could be ground down and used as ingredients in burgers and sausages.
当然，我们必须要克服食用昆虫那些令人反感的因素，专家们预测类似于蟋蟀和蝗虫之类的昆虫可以碾碎后用作汉堡和香肠的食材。

Traditionally produced meat is a real drain on the Earth’s resources and is set to become more expensive over the coming years. Some experts predict that meat will once again become a luxury item, like it was in the past.
在未来的食品结构中，传统的肉类会越来越稀少，当然物以稀为贵，肉类的价格在未来会很高。专家们预测，传统肉类在未来会和资源紧张的过去一样，会成为稀缺食物。

That’s unless we can get comfortable with the idea of lab-grown meat. This is not science fiction. Strips of muscle tissue have already been grown in labs from the stem cells of cows. Hopeful scientists predict that eventually we’ll be able to produce meat that tastes like the stuff we’re all used to in large enough quantities to satisfy demand, though others are less confident.
通过实验室培植出来的肉类或许更容易被接受。不要觉得这是科幻片里的情节，通过牛的干细胞，实验室已经能够培植出牛肉了。专家们表示，尽管实验室培植肉类的提案还没有完全的把握，然而，希望未来实验室培植的肉类能既能满足人们的味蕾又能满足更大的需求量。

If they can’t get lab meat right - or they can’t produce it cheaply enough - the only option for many of us may be vegetarianism. Today, most of us derive about 20% of our calories from meat, eggs and dairy. By mid-century we’ll need to cut it to 5%, given the finite amount of water and land available for agriculture.
如果实验肉类不合符人类标准，或是造价高昂，那么，另一个选择就是加大素食在人类日常食物结构里的比重。当今，人体所需能量中，百分之二十是来源与肉类、蛋类以及奶制品。但在中世纪，人体能量中，只有百分之五十靠肉类、蛋及奶制品提供的。其余的能量补给靠的是水喝素食的配搭。

For the poor, that means meat may become too expensive to eat. Even for the better off, it will become a luxury item. Environmental, health and economic concerns will make vegetarianism an increasingly popular option for many of us, and many more will restrict meat eating to feasts and celebrations like Christmas.
在未来，穷人可能买不起肉，只能减少甚至不吃肉。肉变成了奢侈品。处于对环境、经济和健康上的考虑，消费素食会越来越普遍，而作为稀缺食品的肉类也只能在圣诞节之类的节庆时候才能供人们享用。

Lab-grown meat is one area of a growing field called “food replacement”, whereby expensive, resource-hungry foods are replaced by cheaper, more environmentally friendly and often more nutritious alternatives. For example, one American company is working on producing a plant-based alternative to egg yolks, that can be used in mayonnaise, baked goods and sauces.
实验室培植食物是一个发展中的科研项目，被称作“食物替代”。这个科研旨在开发昂贵的、稀缺的食物的替代品，并做到降低生产成本、对环境无公害以及保证营养供给。举个简单的例子，美国一家公司致力于开发一种植物来取代蛋黄。这种植物可用于生产蛋黄酱、烘焙或制造调料。