2022/119: Dinner on Mars: The Technologies That Will Feed the Red Planet and Transform Agricultur

2022/119: Dinner on Mars: The Technologies That Will Feed the Red Planet and Transform Agriculture on Earth — Lenore Newman and Evan D.G. Fraser

As the two of us have gone on this imaginary mission, we've come to believe a Martian community can and will feed itself successfully, and that in doing so, develop technologies that will revolutionise agriculture on Earth. [loc. 86]

I greatly enjoyed Lenore Newman's Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food, so I leapt at the chance to review her new book, co-written with fellow food scientist Evan D. G. Fraser. Dinner on Mars was conceived during the early months of the Covid pandemic, when the authors were unable to travel or meet in person. It's a thought experiment that begins with the fate of Sir John Franklin's Arctic expedition, and examines the unique environmental challenges that must be met by a self-sustaining Martian colony. ( Read more... )