The Man Who Predicted the iPhone Announces the Next Big Food Trend

While South by Southwest in Austin, TX, is renowned for its indie rock music and movie festival circuit, it's the digital discussions that caught our attention, particularly those involving food. The most memorable of the bunch had to be the Q&A with Nathan Myhrvold, author of the legendary Modernist Cuisine books, and Kerry Diamond, the editor in chief of Yahoo Food. The talk centered on the role of technology and science in cooking, innovations in the food scene, and predicting what's next in the food landscape. We gathered our favorite questions and answers of the evening, so you can know what's to come in 2015 and beyond.

The next big food trend: According to Nathan, "People love variety! For a long time, we got variety from importing exotic foods, but we're now at a point of saturation. There are very few cuisines left to import, so going forward we're just going to have to invent them. I see this as the golden age of exciting new ways to eat and exciting food experiences."

What the Modernist Cuisine team is working on: Bread! The Modernist team is baking up a four-volume series on the art of bread. When asked if Nathan was sick of bread yet, his response? "Never. But I have gained 10 pounds."

How he's using 3D printers: While walking through his research kitchen at his Intellectual Ventures lab, one might hear Nathan casually say, "Oh, that's our OLD 3D printer." Obviously, if anyone were to have an old 3D printer, it would be the Modernist Cuisine kitchen. And what is he using it for? Creating state-of-the-art dishes! While they haven't been unveiled yet, it's safe to say that we'll all be clamoring for them once they launch. 

The next big food trend in technology?: Nathan claims, "The combi-oven! I really hope that's the next big thing after sous vide." A combi-oven, or a combi-steamer, is a professional cooking appliance that combines the functionality of both a convection oven and a steam cooker. It only makes sense since one of Nathan's main points of cooking is the two-step method, or the idea that everything should be cooked with two different goals in mind. First you want to cook the inside of a protein, to get it juicy, tender, and moist, and then you want to think about cooking the outside of the protein differently to achieve the perfect crust, grill, or roast. Using sous vide is just the first step to cooking things well. Widespread use of a combi-oven would ensure that two-step method using both dry and moist heat to cook anything!

Why the microwave is still relevant: Your microwave isn't going anywhere. Nathan says, "The microwave is an integral part of the kitchen. Not only is it great for reheating leftovers, there are a lot of other practical applications for the microwave — everything from fried herbs to making beef jerky!" To make fried herbs at home, "Just take some saran wrap and stretch it over a plate to create a drum-like surface. Lightly oil the saran wrap, then you're going to take your fresh herbs, like basil, or sage, and spray them or lightly coat them in oil. Lay them out on the saran wrap and then just nuke it! All microwaves are different, so just keep watching them until they're ready."

The best meal of Nathan's life: Nathan admits, "El Bulli. While everything wasn't delicious, everything that was served was thought-provoking. Stories don't always have to have a happy ending. They can be bittersweet, and what's great about those is that they are the most thought-provoking."

What it's like working with Stephen Hawking: Nathan went to Cambridge University to do his postdoctoral work with Stephen Hawking to try to unravel the question of where space and time come from. According to Nathan, "It's hard to be petty or pedantic when you're working with Stephen Hawking. He just had a great sense of humor about himself, his situation, and making sure that the people around him were focused on the important things. Egos were checked at the door." But Nathan's taste buds never took a break. He and Stephen had a little joke about British cuisine in the late '80s; they would describe pretty much all meat as "BBR, or boiled beyond recognition!"

How he predicted the iPhone, streaming media, and video-on-demand while working at Microsoft: Nathan affirms that "trends in technology can easily be predicted. With the iPhone, human bodies have limitations of how they can interact with media; basically they can either hold things at arm's length, or they can view things that are about 10 feet away from them, so it only makes sense that we would create a handheld device to consume media. It's an understanding that computing power is just going to keep growing and growing, but people's basic needs aren't going to change."

Why he does what he does: "There are two ways you make a product. The first is to take a focus group and ask them what they want. That's the safe way, but nothing great is ever made that way. The second is to just make what you want. Failure is an option. Projects should be driven by our passion. That is why."