Eleonora Ortolani is a graduate of the prestigious Central Saint Martins Design School in London. Her thesis “Guilty Flavors” from 2023 is to be “a radical proposal for a way for people to use their bodies to eliminate plastic – by eating it.”
Vanilla ice cream made of… plastic. British designer surprises with her idea
Working with researchers from the University of Edinburgh, London Metropolitan University and Central Saint Martins UAL, Ortolani has managed to synthesize vanillin from plastic waste using digestive enzymes and bio-engineered bacteria to transform the plastic into edible molecules. But no one has yet tried ice cream.
“The first vanilla ice cream sample was enriched with biotechnological vanillin obtained through this process, challenging us to adopt breakthrough innovations and participate in a circular ecosystem,” Ortolani described, adding that “her work aims to question and develop the future of human cuisine and break established patterns of thinking.”
Butter can also become more ecological
How we described in July, Californian startup Savor also intends to take care of the environment, announcing that it will create butter without the use of animals. The company has developed an innovative method of producing fats – also without using plants or agricultural land.
The main element of the butter is carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and hydrogen from water, which, after a thermochemical process, allow the ingredients to build fat molecules. Interestingly, this project was financially supported by Bill Gates, who said that the butter from Savor is tasty. “The idea of switching to fats and oils produced in a laboratory may seem strange at first. But their potential to reduce our carbon footprint is huge. Using proven technologies and processes, we are one step closer to achieving our climate goals,” commented the billionaire.