Edibles

Science World, Jan 17, 2000 by Sharon Guynup

PSYCHEDELIC Veggies

Imagine sitting down to dinner with a plate of bright red corn and purple asparagus beside your burger. Were you sitting in front of your computer screen a little too long? Did your supper just arrive from Mars?

None of the above. Seed companies have developed hybrids, plants that are crossbred repeatedly between different "parent" plants until a brand-new variety is created. Although this process of breeding plants for specific traits isn't new, these nutritious vegetables are like nothing the world has seen before: yellow carrots, purple string beans, and even black tomatoes, what's next? Look for other mixed breeds: doughnut-shaped peaches, brocco-flower, and lemon cucumbers!

Food in a Tube

Shortly, earthlings may be eating many types of food exactly the way astronauts do--from a tube. The first of these foods to be available is squeezable, wildly-flavored yogurt. Other types of microwaveable tube foods, including scrambled eggs with sausage, mac and cheese, and pasta, will hit supermarket shelves soon. Bob Messenger, editor of Food Trends, predicts that other snack foods will soon go tubular too, from puddings to energy bars. "Because people are always on the fly, they eat when they can--and `food in a tube' can go anywhere," he says.