Beyond Intention: An Exploration on How Precision Fermentation Technology for Animal-Free Cheese may Affect the Meaning of Cheese

How we think about food results from a myriad of aspects, ranging from production to consumption. The emergence of new food technologies brings new modes of production that could inaugurate new meanings to foods. This paper discusses precision fermentation technology, as it could enable us to make cheese with the same nutritional and sensorial properties as traditional cheese, without animals. This brings promises of lowering impacts of diets, while still consuming a highly nutritious food, cherished by many. Food design often focuses on nutritional and sensorial aspects of the product, but the meaning of food is dependent on more than its physical properties. As a means for normative reflection and guidance for the design of novel food, this paper offers a framework to systematically reflect on possible effects of technology on the meaning of food in our lives, and applied to animal-free cheese. How might the broad meaning of cheese change when it is produced by precision fermentation? What implicit intentions are involved, and what effects might happen beyond intention? The relational ontology framework for food by Deane Curtin is combined with the anticipating mediation framework for technology by Peter-Paul Verbeek. The combined framework is used to imagine several possible effects, building on the positionality of a food scientist developing this technology and with a background in Dutch dairy production. These anticipated effects are by no means exhaustive but form a starting point for continued imagination, reflection and discussion, especially for those involved in the development of novel foods.