How can we feed a growing world population in a healthy and sustainable way? With its repercussions on health, the environment and the climate, food is at the heart of concerns. While junk food still has a bright future ahead of it, for the past few years we have witnessed the emergence of new modes of consumption such as veganism or flexitarianism and the boom in short circuits and local products.
In Rennes, capital of France’s leading agricultural and agri-food region, the Contemporary Culinary Center has been thinking about the content of our plates for nearly ten years. Led by Jean-Michel Lemétayer, former president of the FNSEA, the center opened its doors in 2013 in the Atalante-Champeaux area. “A place of experimentation and food innovation”, the modern building welcomes all the players in the food industry, all gathered to “think about and imagine the food of tomorrow”, according to its former president Pierre Weill.
Better understand consumer habits and expectations
Appetizing on paper, the project almost turned sour in March 2018 with its placement in receivership. He finally came back to life a few months later in the form of a cooperative society of collective interest, supported by local authorities and Breton agri-food manufacturers. Hosting three restaurants as well as a cooking school and the school of master crepes, the center has since refocused its activities on consulting. With Breton communities, starting with the region, which is committed to “eating well for all”, according to its president Loïg Chesnais-Girard.
Well-Eating for all, access and quality for all.
To achieve this, you also have to think about cuisine, prepare for change, and that’s the whole action of @3CCulinaire .
Proud to have accompanied @PierreWeill35 Good wind to Patrick Aulard, new President! pic.twitter.com/6hIdqGUTjt
– Loïg Chesnais-Girard (@LoigCG) January 20, 2022
But especially with professionals in the food industry, SMEs or large groups, the center’s experts help them better understand the expectations and uses of consumers and develop new culinary concepts. We will not know the name of the customers, confidentiality clause obliges. “But a lot of innovations have come out of our kitchens, especially around vegetables,” underlines Marie-Loïc Garin, R&D project manager.
Work to be done on algae and legumes
Leaving to others the care of cultivating artificial meat or imagining the ingredients of tomorrow, the culinary center focuses above all on finding new uses for already existing products. Example with algae, a resource that is still under-exploited. “We are working to promote it to make it a real vegetable and not just an ingredient”, explains Pierre Weill.
While meat consumption is falling every year, the food industry is also interested in legumes. “There is an increasingly strong demand but not many people know how to cook them”, underlines Patrick Aulard, new president of the center. “There is therefore a lot of work to be done with the manufacturers to give another image and other uses to these legumes”, he specifies, while tasting a falafel made from coconuts from Paimpol.
Under his mandate, the culinary center, which also helps restaurateurs to create their menu or develop their creativity, plans to export its expertise beyond the borders of Brittany. History to show that “Brittany has all the resources to rise to the rank of leader in food innovation”.