Applications of AI in rural gastronomy

With a doctorate in physics from the University of the Basque Country and Oxford University, and a post-doctorate from Cambridge University, Eneko Axpe has used his talents at NASA and in food companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. He has been collaborating for some time with Eneko Atxa, who, at the helm of his award-winning sustainable restaurant Azurmendi*** (Bizkaia), is confident in the possibilities that AI brings to haute cuisine. Terrae asked Axpe if there was a place for rural cuisine. "We can see AI as a threat, or we can look at it with an open mind and understand that it is a tool that has already arrived, like the mobile phone, the internet or Instagram, which are also very useful in rural environments. We have to lose our fear of change," he replies. 

To understand rural gastronomy, you have to understand the rural population. "In Spain, for every person who lives in a village, there are four who live in the city, and the trend is rising. The problem is that the areas that are most depopulated are the ones that produce most of the food we consume," Eneko reveals, citing other studies that predict a drastic drop in the world's population from 2085 onwards, "reaching medieval levels in a few centuries, mainly due to factors such as the increase in GDP per capita, the higher cost of living in the city and greater employment opportunities that make maternity leave later". 

Agricultural applications of AI and other uses in the kitchen 

With this context in mind, Eneko went on to describe several applications of AI, demonstrating its 360º impact on rural gastronomy, from food production and distribution to the creation of dishes. For example, he advocates precision agriculture, comparing it to an autonomous car that he recently tested in California to go to a restaurant, which is "statistically safer than one driven by a human". The same technology will allow farmers to control an autonomous tractor from home or the office, even in the most adverse weather conditions," he argued. He also backs the use of AI for intelligent crop improvement, mapping the conditions of each plot of land to determine which varieties will produce better yields before planting them, and even controlling their diseases. "This seems very relevant to me, given that 78% of Spain's territory is at risk of desertification and water consumption will have to be measured to the millimetre," he warned. 

Autonomous transport or AI-optimised supply chains will also be useful for distribution, and as for waste, he pointed out interesting applications for its study, quantification and reduction, "controlling it from the stocks on the supermarket shelves to the waste bins". Eneko also proposes AI tools for the creation of dishes, an application he has already approved at Azurmendi for the composition of healthier and more sustainable recipes, measuring the carbon footprint of each food, or in his current project, "the creation of dishes for patients with dysphagia, who cannot swallow well and lose interest in the food they can eat". AI inspires Eneko to create attractive dishes suitable for these patients," he says.

So the expert concludes that "with AI, the chef can be inspired to create new aesthetics of dishes and even new flavours, a process already used by companies such as Coca-Cola or Valio", he said, before carrying out some amusing demonstrations, encouraged by the audience, such as measuring the carbon and water footprint of a recipe for papas arrugás with mojo, creating a recipe that mixes calçots with romesco and stuffed onions, and designing a paella with new flavours, which resulted in a recipe based on seafood, coconut and kaffir lime.