According to CNN, Sorawut Kittibanthorn's team made several special ingredients from chicken feathers: deep red "beef" and salty water "fish" ... After careful serving, it looks no different from other dishes in Manhattan restaurants. "High-quality meat is always tender and juicy, and it melts at the entrance. I hope the meat I cook can do the same. " Kittibanthorn said when describing his innovative protein substitute.
We all know that chicken feathers can't be digested by human body, because it is composed of about 9 1% keratin, but because of this, chicken feathers contain as many as eight amino acids that we need every day, but they are sent to landfills because they can't be used by human body.
Knowing that about 2 million tons of chicken feathers are discarded every year, the student from Central Saint Martin College of Art and Design decided to tap the potential of this unusual ingredient and challenge people's understanding of waste. In fact, as early as 20 18, it was found that using keratin extracted from poultry feathers as a sports supplement can increase the fat-free weight of users. It is this kind of protein with high nutritional value that has attracted Kittibanthorn's attention. He cooperated with food scientists at the University of Reading in England to make keratin in chicken feathers easy to digest and eat through three steps: cleaning, crushing, enzyme digestion, stirring, filtering and cooling.
But Kittibanthorn said that feather "meat" has no taste, so it needs seasoning. In addition, Kittibanthorn also tried various adhesives, hoping to imitate the texture, color and consistency of high-quality meat. This summer, after winning the Mills Fabrika Award for Technical Style and Sustainable Development, Kittibanthorn said that his next plan is to develop new recipes in cooperation with chefs.
Although chicken feathers are a good source of protein from the perspective of sustainable development, due to cultural barriers, many people may not be able to accept this kind of food, and new food needs up to nine months of risk assessment and authorization, so we may not taste "chicken feather food" soon.
Kittibanthorn said that in any case, our concept of "waste" needs to be changed, and "zero waste food" like feather protein will bring more possibilities for sustainable development.