The new food products are part of a global trend towards more sustainable food production and more plant-based meat alternatives.This is what co-founder of lkea's innovation laboratory, Space10, Simon Caspersen calls the new foods and dishes that they have developed over the past three years.- We know that meat, which is one of our main sources of protein, is one of the biggest climate culprits.Our goal has therefore always been to develop sustainable alternatives, he says to TV 2.With funds from the Swedish furniture giant, they have had free rein to do just this.It has now become the cookbook 'Future Food Today', which shows how you can protect the environment by cooking with both ordinary and quite unusual ingredients.- Some of the more exotic things we carry are mealworms, grasshoppers and microalgae, says Simon Caspersen, who has also helped create a meat-free version of the department store's signature meatball.The production of insects as food emits far less energy than farm animals such as cows, pigs and chickens, and half as much water or less is used, a Danish report showed in 2017.They are also a good source of protein that can easily replace meat from mammals and poultry, but that is not enough, says Simon Caspersen.Above all, it must taste good.- If nobody wants to eat it, it doesn't matter.So a large part of our work has been about the taste and expression, he says.Therefore, among other things, it has been a challenge to use the microalgae spirulina, which can be produced with very little resource consumption.Already in the 70s it was named one of the best foods for humans by the United Nations due to its high protein, iron and antioxidant content, but the problem was not its properties - it was the taste.- It really, really tastes like algae.We have incorporated it so that it also becomes delicious food.We have succeeded with our hot dog, where the algae is part of the bun, he says.In addition to the hot dog, the laboratory has also developed a burger, where the steak consists of mealworms, beetroot, potatoes and parsnips.In the book, you can also find both the vegetarian and the insect version of Ikea's meatballs, which consist of a mixture of vegetables and dried mealworms.With the new cookbook, Space10 joins a trend that has made plant-based ingredients and sustainability good business in recent years.The latest survey in the area showed that 2.4% of Danes, corresponding to 140,000 people, live vegetarian or vegan.They therefore exclude at least red meat, poultry, fish, cold meats or by-products from the slaughter of animals from their diet, Coop Analyse's report from 2018 showed.- We have been hit by a real sustainability tsunami, says Hanne Harbo, strategic food analyst at the communications and innovation agency Nørgård Mikkelsen.It is particularly among young people that the vegetarian trend has taken hold.In the age group 15 to 34, more than one in twenty do not eat meat.The number of "part-time vegetarians" is also increasing.Approximately every third Dane has at least one vegetarian day a week.That number has increased twenty percent in just one year.However, Denmark is still one of the countries in the world that consumes the most meat per capita.If you count all Danes between the ages of 4 and 75, we eat an average of 52 kilos of meat per year, DTU's latest calculation from 2018 showed.- As part of the sustainability debate, the conversation about eating less meat has really started, says Hanne Harbo, who emphasizes that this has helped to increase the demand for products that imitate meat.Among other things, it was cemented in 2017, when the beef-like soy-based product Naturli' Hakket was introduced under great media attention.The product was taken off the shelves in the first weeks and can now be found in almost all supermarkets.- Innovations such as plant mince are so concrete and at eye level with consumers that they work.Even really well, she says.- As consumers, we are fascinated by the fact that we ourselves can be part of the development and change, and at the same time there is a need that needs to be met, she says and predicts that there will be many more meat alternatives in the future.This development can already be seen abroad.In the US, two companies producing vegetarian alternatives to meat have gone public this month.The company Beyond Meat, which was founded in 2009, brought in over 1.6 billion dollars in a short time.The company is thus worth approximately ten billion kroner.And the competitor Impossible Foods received close to five billion kroner of investment in a short time.Among the investors are rapper Jay-Z, singer Katy Perry, tennis player Serena Williams and talk show host Trevor Noah.Investment companies in Singapore and Hong Kong have also helped to give the food manufacturer air under its wings.This indicates that there is good breeding ground for worm burgers and algae hot dogs on both the international and Danish markets.But despite the trend and the fact that Ikea itself sells food in all of its nearly 300 warehouses worldwide, the new dishes from Space10's 'Future Foods' will not be sold in Ikea's restaurants for the time being.- It's about supply and demand.This may feel like science fiction to some, but we publish the cookbook because people all over the world have asked for our recipes, says Simon Caspersen.- Our task is to test it and see how people react.When it is something that is as culturally specific as food, it can take time to change what people choose, he says and adds:- But we love prawns, for example, which are mistaken for insects.I remember when sushi came to Denmark.Unexpectedly, "Raw fish wrapped in seaweed" also became popular, so perhaps we are curious enough to open our world to new delicious taste experiences that can also help ensure that we do not ruin the opportunities for our grandchildren's grandchildren.Hanne Harbo agrees with that.- I don't think worms and algae will ever become mainstream in their natural form.No one wants to eat it, she says, and nevertheless instills some hope in Ikea's innovation laboratory.- But in the future, I am convinced that insects can become part of our diets.But it will be in processed form, like flour in bread, for example, she says.Last year, Ikea's warehouses introduced a vegetarian hot dog on the menu, and in the coming years they will introduce another invention from Space10: vertical farming.In this way, the restaurants can grow some of the vegetables for their dishes in the warehouse itself, so that they avoid transport and take another step towards more sustainable production.The cookbook 'Future Food Today' is on sale from 21 May.