Tastelab, giving sustainability a new flavour

Sue Tobler is a physicist. And chef. Her passion for science and gastronomy have launched a blockbuster chain of restaurants, Tastelab. Tastelab builds on the world of Planted, an ETH Spinoff that makes plant-based meat substitute out of pea protein, a brand of food that is good for your health, and the planet.

Sue’s brand, Tastelab, catered a completely plant-based menu for the ETH Zurich Pavilion in Davos. Here ETH Ambassadors interview her about her inspiration and insight.

Tobler: My whole life I've always been fascinated by two things: science and food. I studied physics and astrophysics, so I love science. And on the other hand, I love cooking and eating. For me, the TasteLab is a catering company that is the perfect combination of the two. I get to cook, eat and develop new dishes, but I also get to look behind the dishes and explore the science.

ETH Ambassadors: What are some of the more elaborate techniques that you are using in the kitchen?

Tobler: I'm a big fan of the centrifuge in the kitchen. We do a beetroot caramel where we derive a syrup out of the beetroot. We found a way to get just the sugar. We cook the beetroot, puree it, then put it through the centrifuge to take all the fiber out. This makes a beetroot water which we cook down into a beetroot sugar syrup. And we transform that into caramel and serve it with fennel sprouts and orange zest.

ETH Ambassadors: How is your kitchen different from a conventional kitchen?

Tobler: Sometimes people are amazed. They look at our dishes and they absolutely love how they look but they say, "this looks like normal food". And we want it to be normal food. Sometimes the very elaborate techniques are in the background. I think what makes us different is that we're not guided by traditional or classic cooking. We're completely open to everything. So if we have a new tool, we don't necessarily use it the way it's traditionally used. 

ETH Ambassadors: Do you see your cuisine as building a more sustainable future of food?

Tobler: So this year for the Davos exhibition we chose the theme, the future of food, food which is at the intersection of technology and sustainability. In the past we looked at different cooking techniques, different processes. This year it's really more about the impact we have on the Earth while we're cooking and eating. Also, when we looked into the whole supply chain of ingredients we use, it's very nice to know the physics behind it so we can understand the impact on the planet. This year we explored CO2 emissions of almost all the foods we serve, and then made conscious decisions around that.

ETH Ambassadors: How does your kitchen transform food to make it food of the future?

Tobler: We really need to think about what food of the future does to the Earth. For the first time, we went entirely plant-based. We left out all meat products, but also dairy and eggs. Before meat was a part of our kitchen. Never the biggest part, but it's definitely a new way for us to cook. And it was very interesting for us to explore in the last couple of weeks, while we developed this menu, how to cook entirely plant-based. It was challenging but also revealing to see how easy and delicious it can be.

ETH Ambassadors: So now the big theme is sustainability. What does that mean for the menu?

Tobler: We went plant-based!In Switzerland, 97% of food-caused CO2 emissions come from animal products. By going entirely plant-based, we therefore make a huge impact, just by choosing different ingredients! Our contribution is sustainability now, but we're also thinking about how we adapt this for Tastelab in the future. This shouldn't just be about this week, but a chance to really focus on using non-animal products.

ETH Ambassadors: So that's the big creator of carbon emissions?

Tobler: When you look at CO2 emissions produced by food worldwide, 58% comes from animal products. In Switzerland where people love meat, have the money to buy it and eat a lot of dairy, it's as high as 97%. That's ridiculous! So yes, as soon as we saw these numbers in the studies the decision was clear.

For more information about the Tastelab, visit https://www.tastelab.ch/