This thought experiment is excerpted from the book Synergetic Stew: Explorations in Dymaxion Dining, a surprise gift Buckminster Fuller received for his eighty-sixth birthday on July 12, 1981. More recently, this text has been referenced in the book Cooking Earth: Artificiality, Alienation and Desire in the Past, Present and Future of Food by the Black Almanac platform, led by Philip Maughan and Andrea Provenzano (Madrid: Medialab-Matadero, 2023).
Geoengineering in this context refers broadly to the large-scale manipulation of environmental processes that affect Earth's systems. While today this term is frequently linked to efforts combating climate change, its use here extends beyond interventions such as rain enhancement or solar radiation management. Instead, it encompasses a broader scale of designed effects. The advent of agriculture, for instance, represents an early form of geoengineering, wherein humans first modified landscapes and ecosystems on a grand scale—actions that have significantly shaped the world we inhabit today.
Metabolic architecture refers to the dynamic and systemic integration of processes that convert inputs into outputs in living organisms and in the built environment. In the context of food systems, it signifies the complex network of production, distribution, and consumption processes that transform natural resources into food and food into energy and waste, mirroring the metabolic processes found in biological systems.
Grandeza Studio, “Strata Incognita - Spanish Pavilion at Biennale Architettura 2023,” see ➝.
Vaclav Smil, Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004).
Yansui Liu, “Transforming the Loess Plateau of China,” Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering 3, no. 3 (September 2016); 181-185.
The Rodale Institute’s research on regenerative organic agriculture in the USA has demonstrated that improving soil health through organic practices can enhance biodiversity, increase yields, and sequester carbon, offering a sustainable pathway forward for agriculture. Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global Warming (Rodale Institute, 2015). See ➝.
Marina Otero and Manuel Correa, Biological Agent, 2023.
“According to Greenpeace, many of these large-scale farms violate animal rights and constitute serious environmental crimes. “El Juzgado de Tafalla detecta indicios de delito ambiental en la macrogranja Valle de Odieta,” Greenpeace, February 9, 2024. See ➝.
About 50% of the habitable land on Earth is used for agriculture, which includes 12% for crops and 38% for grazing. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roer, “Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture,” Our World in Data (blog), February 16, 2024. See ➝.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other sources, about 15 plant species provide 90% of the world's food energy intake (maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, soybeans, oil palm, cassava, tomatoes, bananas, sweet potatoes, sorghum, sugarcane, yams, barley, and millet). Specifically, staple crops (rice, wheat, and maize) alone make up about two-thirds of this intake. “Facts & Figures on Food and Biodiversity,” International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (blog), December 23, 2010. See ➝.
Pork, chicken, and beef dominate global meat consumption, with pork leading at 36%, followed by chicken at 33%, and beef at 24%. “Pork is the Most Consumed Meat Worldwide,” FoodIndustry.com (blog), February 2022. See ➝.
Yuk Hui's concept of "technodiversity" refers to the idea of fostering a plurality of technologies that reflect the cultural and ethical values of different societies, aiming to counteract the homogenizing effects of global technological standardization. Here it refers to the variety of technological and methodological approaches in food production systems.For more on technodiversity, see Yuk Hui, Fragmentar el Futuro: Ensayos sobre Tecnodiversidad (Buenos Aires: Cajanegra Editores, 2021).
Cold Route, directed by Gerard Ortin and Pol Esteve Castelló (2023), 13 min. See ➝.
Future Foods, directed by Gerard Ortín (2020), 21 min. See ➝.
Agnes Essonti and MAIO Architects, Chop, Chop, Chop, 2023.
Somos Tetuán / Europa Press, “Grito unánime en Tetuán contra sus decenas de dark kitchens: ‘¡Fuera las cocinas fantasma de los barrios!’,” El Diario, March 13, 2023. See ➝.
The short "Riders Not Heroes: Anatomy of a Delivery," by the interdisciplinary study 2050+ in collaboration with -orama, dissects the multiple realities that collide throughout the duration of a food delivery: a complex system where bodily, chemical, and synthetic regimes are entangled in a short time frame, collapsing the acts of ordering and delivering.
Kieron Marchese, “Real 8-Bit Sushi Marks the Beginning of Food Digitalization and Teleportation,” designboom, March 12, 2018. See ➝.
elxokas, “MI NUEVA EMPRESA DE ALIMENTACIÓN: KNOWEATS!,” YouTube, February 2, 2024. See ➝.
United Nations Environment Programme, "Food Waste Index Report 2021," ➝. This report estimates that 17% of global food production is wasted.
As is emphasized in the United Nations Environment Programme’s reports. For instance, UN Environmental Programme, Annual Report 2023: Keeping the Promise, see ➝.
“What is Garum?,” Noma Projects. See ➝.
“The Park Plan,” Freshkills Park. See ➝.
elii (architecture office) and María Jerez, Ca.Ca. (Cannibal Carnival), 2023.
The Terraforming, directed by Black Alamanac (2020), 14 min. See ➝.
The Future Foodscapes Compendium provides a catalogue of these potential interventions. More than 300 case studies, including strategies, technologies, and start-ups, explore dynamics with the potential to transform the global food system. See “Case Studies,” Future Foodscapes Compendium, ➝.
The term "geobricolage" extends Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's concept of bricolage to suggest a resourceful, piecemeal approach to addressing planetary-scale challenges.