BRB w/ Nathan P - Plastic Eating Enzymes, Orange-Fennel-Beet Salad & The Omnivore's Dilemma
A mighty molecule that can prevent plastic waste, a refreshing salad for the Spring, and an essential Michael Pollan read on our food system.
Hi all,
Happy Earth Day 🌎 and welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P - a weekly newsletter featuring 💥1 Breakthrough, 🥘1 Recipe, and 📚1 Book on food & climate.
Before we get started, here are some highlights of food & climate in the news this week:
A different way to measure the climate impact of food (The Economist)
About 18,000 Cattle Are Killed in Fire at Dairy Farm in Texas (NYT). I felt saddened at hearing this news, more so than the routine slaughtering of cows. It made me think - was I more moved by their passing or by their suffering?
💥 Breakthrough: Plastic Eating Enzymes
Last week, we discussed consumer recycling. Of the 5 materials we use the most, plastic has the lowest recycling rate at a meager 9%.
The most abundant form of plastic is called PET, #1 in the ♻️ logo. PET is short for polyethylene terephthalate (say that 3 times fast) and is used to make water bottles. While it is the most recycled plastic, it still accounts for 12% of total global waste.
Engineers at UT Austin developed an enzyme to break down PET, which they dubbed Fast-PETase. [FYI - in biology, compounds ending in “-ase” represent enzymes.]
The team, led by Chemical Engineering Professor Hal Alper, tested this enzyme on 51 PET products ranging from water bottles to fabrics and other packaging. It was effective on all of them.
The design of this enzymes was enabled by machine learning from Professor Ellington’s team at UT’s Cockrell Engineering school. They optimized a PETase enzyme already produced by some bacteria and simulated different mutations to create the optimal enzyme.
Fast-PETase broke down some plastics in as little as 24h, others taking a few days. Take a look at the 48h process of breaking down this plastic container below:
There’s hardly any left at the end. What does it turn into?
PET is made from chains of repeating units, called monomers. These monomers link to form “chains,” which get “stacked” together in a process called crosslinking. This creates the resilient material we recognize as plastic. The enzyme breaks down these “stacks” and “chains,” reducing PET back to its monomer building blocks.
Another amazing feature of this enzyme is its low operating temperature below 50°C. This makes it easier to act at industrial scales and in ambient conditions where most plastic pollution could sit. The question remains what the scalability and commercial viability of this enzyme look like.
We can harness the power of microorganisms to upcycle many different kinds of waste streams into novel products. If it can rot, there’s a microorganism there. So we should learn from them. And hire them. Then become friends.
🥘 Recipe: Orange-Fennel-Beet Salad
If you also live in NY and was taken aback by the 86°F / 30°C temperatures last week, cool down with this refreshing salad.
The orange, fennel, and beet combine different colors, flavors, and textures for a delicious and insta-worthy lunch.
Find the recipe at the end of this newsletter. If you make it, please send pictures :)
📚 Book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan is one of my favorite authors, and this book is a must read to understand the American food system.
The first third of the book tells the story of our reliance on corn. About 25% of the total calories we eat are directly or indirectly from corn.
If you’ve ever been to McDonald’s, a chicken nugget is: corn-fed chicken, dipped in corn starch, then in corn meal, then fried in corn oil. So nutritionally, it’s corn 🌽. Dipping it in ketchup? Ketchup is 56% corn. Sipping some Coke to go with? The US recipe for Coca Cola is 100% corn (besides water).
Michael Pollan engages with food in an empathetic, stirring, and creative way. He purchases a South Dakotan steer to see its life cycle through the industrial beef value chain first-hand. He prepares a meal for guests using only foods he has grown, foraged, or hunted.
This book is an invitation to be more curious about where our food comes from. And when we do, to ask ourselves: are we still able to eat in the same way?
Some quotes as food for thought:
There is every reason to believe that corn has succeeded in domesticating us.
Were the walls of our meat industry to become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not long continue to raise, kill, and eat animals the way we do.
We are not only what we eat, but how we eat, too.
Imagine if we had a food system that actually produced wholesome food. Imagine if it produced that food in a way that restored the land. Imagine if we could eat every meal knowing these few simple things: What it is we’re eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what it really cost.
Thank you for reading - BRB next week ✌️
🥘 Recipe: Orange-Fennel-Beet Salad
Courtesy of Bene Bono
Ingredients (2 servings)
2 oranges
1 fennel bulb
1 raw beet
1/2 head of cabbage
1 apple
10 fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp of tahini
4 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of wine vinegar
Sesame for garnish
Salt & pepper to taste
Goat cheese (optional)
Instructions (15 mins)
Prepare the orange vinaigrette by juicing one orange and mixing it with the tahini, vinegar, and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Thinly slide the fennel and the cabbage. Julienne (cutting into fine strips) the apple and beet. This is easiest to do with a mandoline.
Mix the cabbage, apple, and fennel into a bowl with the desired amount of sauce. Spread on a plate, then scatter the beet on top so it doesn’t color everything. I like to sprinkle in some goat cheese here for extra flavor and texture.
Supreme the orange (yes, this is a real technique, tutorial here) and lay on top of the salad.
Garnish with fresh mint and sesame. Enjoy :)
About Me
Hi there! My name is Nathan Paumier - I’m an avid reader, food enthusiast, and climate optimist. I started this newsletter after frequent questions on food tech, reading recommendations, and my secret recipes.
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