Even if something can be eaten safely, where do you draw the line on calling it actual food?
If this scientist's project is anything to go by, the lines might soon be blurred even further.
Sorawut Kittibanthorn – a Thai researcher with a master's degree in material futures – wants to turn chicken feathers into food. And not just the type of food that you'd normally deem as bland essential nutrition like Soylent, but actually delicious food like the kind you might encounter in fine-dining establishments.
It all started during Sorawut's time as a student in London. Searching for new types of waste to recycle, he was eventually drawn to the millions of tons of chicken feathers being discarded around the world every year.
Thinking hard about ways to make use of them, he eventually ended up with the idea of turning the feathers' keratin – a protein also found in human nails and hair – into something edible.
"Chicken feathers contain protein, and if we are able to serve this protein to others in the world, the demand from everyone will help reduce waste," Sorawut told Reuters.
The method used to break down the keratin involves a process called acid hydrolysis, which ends up with a nutrient-rich powder than can be used in cooking.
The whole cycle involves 13 steps and starts with the feathers being cleaned and ground, before being placed in a water bath with acids and enzymes that break down the keratin's strong chemical bonds. Finally, the solution is gently heated and stirred regularly for 12 to 14 hours before being filtered and cooled.
Food you'll probably enjoy.
Judging by the food samples that Sorawut has come up with, you wouldn't think of them as having anything to do with a substance manufactured in a lab.
A prior exhibition of the dishes created from the chicken-feather compound showed items like steak tartare, an imitation of fish fillet, keto-friendly pasta, and other wildly-inventive items that veer on the avant-garde such as a feather-meat bird's wings and protein-packed tuiles.
In photos, the dishes look spectacular – as if served in a Michelin-starred restaurant, possibly proving that Sorawut's idea may have real gourmet potential after all.
But despite ending up with enticing and visually-appealing delicacies, it's the sustainable element of his project that really drives him.
With millions of tons of yearly feather waste contributing to the pollution of soil and water sources, the Thai scientist really wants to find a solution that could possibly solve the problem from both sustainability and ethical standpoints, and he hopes that turning chicken feathers into a food source is the path to victory.
Though there might already be quite a number of takes on sustainable and ethical food sources – like roasted crickets, the Impossible Burger, and lab-grown chicken meat – it really doesn't hurt to have another answer to the world's concerns of damaging waste and ethical food practices.
Even if it won't happen anytime soon, it'll be great to see chicken-feather "meat" products being served at our local eateries. Hopefully they'll taste as good as they look.
Read more cool science stories:
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How do honey bees ward off murder hornets? Poop decorations.
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Cover image sourced from Reuters.
