How DTU is Helping Students Build New Food Solutions

The Danish Technical University (DTU) opened up a Food Lab, enabling students to play with cutting-edge technologies and access resources to bring their ideas and research to life.

Everyone in the world is affected by the way food is designed, produced, distributed and consumed. So what are we teaching the next generation of leaders about food? The Danish Technical University opened up the Food Lab, a place for students to access cutting-edge technologies to work and prototype solutions for improving our food system. Roberto Flore runs the Food Lab. Before joining DTU, Roberto worked as a chef and was the Head of Culinary Research and Development at the Nordic Food Lab, a collaboration between Noma’s Rene Redzepi, Claus Meyer, and the Copenhagen University's Department of Food Science.

Analisa Winther, Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host  0:56 

Hi Roberto, and welcome to the show.

Roberto Flore, DTU  0:57 

Hi, Analisa. How are you?

Analisa Winther, Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host  0:59 

I'm good. How are you?

Roberto Flore, DTU  1:01 

I'm really fine. Thanks.

Analisa Winther, Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host  1:02 

That's great. So, we're going to get started today with a question, which is when did you first realize or was there a moment when you realized that you really wanted to work within food?

Roberto Flore, DTU  1:13 

That's a nice question. It's something that I've always been asked. I think I grew up with this. It is something that I've always been attracted to. I'm from Sardinia, and so I can share, of course, the lovely stories of grandma teaching me how to cook. But it's actually a really true story. Because I basically grew up around, let's say a place where there is a lot of food all around your life. When you are sharing food, you're sharing culture. And this was a really big way of shaping my life since the beginning when I was young. So, I think if I need to create a date, like a timeline, it will be probably be when I was five.

Analisa Winther, Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host  2:13 

Wow, that's a long history. It's beautiful and very Italian.

Roberto Flore, DTU  2:18 

Sounds quite stereotypical, right?

Analisa Winther, Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host  2:20 

Yeah. So maybe you can tell us how you made your way to Copenhagen and then what is DTU FoodLab where you work and what is your role in the institution?

Roberto Flore, DTU  2:30 

Sure. So, I've always been fascinated about working with food and being involved in food production. At the beginning, I was thinking of taking the path of working as a chef. That was actually one of the first steps in my career. But before moving into the world of kitchen, I thought that it was really important to understand more, basically, the world of production. So, I have a background studying agriculture. That was basically an important step for me because from the early stage, I really wanted to be a more cautious chef. I really wanted to know the history of the food that I was placing in the dishes that I was going to create in the kitchen. So basically, I started studying and then I moved into the world of the kitchen.