7 Inspiring TED talks that challenge the way we look at food

Innovation and the pace of change has never been faster in the foodservice and hospitality sector. Consumer tastes shift quickly with well-being, street food and snacking habits changing the way we approach food on a day-to-day basis. Larger macro trends such as food waste also play a huge role in how we approach food from farm to fork.

Technology has a huge role to play as well. From 3D printed cheeseburgers to disruptive delivery platforms and AI led vertical farming, new innovations are fundamentally changing the way we look at food.

Great ideas come from a myriad of sources, and we all need some inspiration sometimes. So with that in mind we’ve collected some of the best TED talks from world renowned speakers that challenge us to rethink the way we look at food.

1. How I fell in love with a fish

Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu. With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles his pursuit of a sustainable fish he could love, and the foodie's honeymoon he's enjoyed since discovering an outrageously delicious fish raised using a revolutionary farming method in Spain.

2. Teach every child about food

Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, West Virginia — and a shocking image of the sugar we eat — TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

3. A vision for sustainable restaurants

If you've been in a restaurant kitchen, you've seen how much food, water and energy can be wasted there. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson shares his very personal vision for drastically reducing restaurant, and supermarket, waste — creating recycling, composting, sustainable engines for good (and good food).

4. Why are we (still) wasting our food

Winnow CEO and co-founder Marc Zones has worked in food for his entire life.He wants us to realize that food is way too valuable to waste. He strongly believes that the combination of technology and entrepreneurship can create  extraordinary opportunities to change the way how we make food and solve the problem of food waste.

5. How we can eat our landscapes

What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community.

6. This computer will grow your food in the future

What if we could grow delicious, nutrient-dense food, indoors anywhere in the world? Caleb Harper, director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, wants to change the food system by connecting growers with technology. Get to know Harper's "food computers" and catch a glimpse of what the future of farming might look like.

Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible — but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of food waste, calling for a more responsible use of global resources.

Feeling inspired? Find out how new technology can transform the way your business look at food waste. Watch our case study video shot with Accor hotels where Winnow’s technology helped cut food waste in half. Watch on demand here.