Yes, You Really Can Make Food From Thin Air—And We Tried It

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Every second of every day, plants on earth do something miraculous: they take the carbon dioxide from air and turn it into food. With very few exceptions, everything we eat starts out that way. But what if we wanted to cut out the middlemen, re-wild all those fields full of wheat and corn, and manufacture dinner directly from the atmosphere ourselves? Scientists began dreaming of turning air into food back into the 1800s, but it's only recently that dream has become a reality—with results that, depending on where you live, you can already taste for yourself. In this episode, we’re exploring the history and science that made this particular sci-fi future real: from a space-age vodka and military-grade yogurt-like substance, to surprisingly delicious gas-based butter and bonbons. Join us this episode as we explore the weird science and fascinating history behind this futuristic food, and discover how it might help us save this planet *and* survive on new ones.

Episode Notes

Bill Gourgey

Science writer Bill Gourgey reported on the history of making food from air for Popular Science.

A charcoal drawing of Marcellin Berthelot, whose research in the 1800s spawned the idea of creating food out of air. (Image credit: the Wellcome Collection)

Kathleen Alexander and Savor

Kathleen Alexander is the co-founder and CEO of Savor, which is producing fats from CO2 to take the place of butter and palm oil. For now, if you want to try it yourself, you'll have to pre-order their limited edition bonbons.

Juha-Pekka Pitkänen and Solar Foods

Juha-Pekka Pitkänen is the chief scientific officer and co-founder of Solar Foods, which is producing a protein powder from the microbe SoF1. If you live in Singapore, you can already taste the results in the form of ice-cream sandwiches and non-dairy creamer.

Butter, no cows required: our tasting of Savor's made-from-air butter. (Photo by Nicola Twilley)

Monsi Roman

Monsi Roman is a retired microbiologist and program manager at NASA. She was previously the program manager for NASA's Centennial Challenge program, including the CO2 Conversion Challenge, which ran from 2021-2024.

Collin Timm

Collin Timm is a chemical and biological engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He is working on creating food from air for deployed soldiers as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Cornucopia program.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics

This episode of Gastropod was supported by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics. Check out the other books, movies, shows, podcasts, and more that they support here.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund

This episode of Gastropod was supported in part by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for our coverage of biomedical research.