These are the future talents of the food industry. Those who will be responsible for imagining our dishes of tomorrow. Every year, agronomy engineering students from all over the country challenge each other at the end of the school year during the competition. Ecotrophelia. A food innovation laboratory which aims to be “a springboard” for these young people, according to Olivier Abgrall, coordinator of the event.
For this 25th edition, which is being held until this Thursday in Rennes, the emphasis is once again on “eating well and eating well” with healthy foods, with a low environmental impact but also and above all rich in taste. . Like those of the Hari & Co brand, winner of the trophy in 2013 which now sells its legume-based products in more than 5,000 points of sale. Among the twenty-two projects competing this year, 20 minutes has selected five that particularly caught his eye and taste buds. A small selection of treats that may soon arrive on your plates.
The snail takes the shape of a sausage
It is one of the emblems of French gastronomy even if not everyone necessarily appreciates it. Usually, the snail is served in its shell, seasoned with garlic and parsley butter. Students from the Institut Agro Montpellier wanted to break the rules by offering its meat in the form of a sausage. Escargoût is eaten as a main dish, grilled in a pan or on the barbecue and accompanied by starchy foods or vegetables.
“It’s a way of using snail flesh in a different way, which has rich nutritional qualities, has a low fat content and whose production requires little water and land,” emphasizes Lucas. For their recipe, which comes in the Catalan style (peppers and tomatoes) or the Burgundian style (garlic and parsley), the students opted for the flesh of squirrel, a snail very common in France and “which has a taste more marked than the Burgundy snail,” assures Inès.
Edible fruit pencils for a snack
It is not always easy to get your children to eat fruits and vegetables. Based on this observation shared by many parents, students from ESIROI in Reunion Island have imagined an original and fun solution based on a very familiar object. “Children keep chewing their pencils at school, so we invented an edible pencil made from fruit,” says Laïka.
For their Kréyon Péï (local pencil in Reunion Creole), the four students also wanted to highlight the fruits of their rich island, namely mango, pineapple, banana and strawberry guava, to which they added a little carrot and beet powder. “There is no artificial coloring,” explains Chaïn, who advises parents to take out the pencils at snack time.
A dehydrated soup bar for a quick breakfast
A soup swallowed in a hurry during the lunch break. This is a recipe that is attracting more and more employees, particularly women. But it is not always easy to bring your bowl of soup to the office with sometimes industrial accidents if the lid opens. To avoid drama, nine students from Colmar and Nancy developed the Soupes Madame range.
The principle: a dehydrated soup bar with carrot-parsnip or beet-ginger flavor that can easily be prepared at the office with just a bowl and boiling water. All coated in a cracker made from chickpea cream and legumes that takes up no more space than a cereal bar in a bag. “We are on a portable product, more filling than a classic dehydrated soup and above all healthier with a Nutriscore A”, assures Aude, who hopes with her colleagues to attract “a clientele of active women”.
Mackerel balls to enjoy as an aperitif
Expensive, hard to cook and not great for smells in the kitchen. So many reasons why many French people no longer buy fresh fish. However, it is good for your health with fatty fish very rich in omega 3 such as mackerel, very present on our coasts. To put it back on plates, nine students from the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers are offering a snacked version of mackerel in the form of balls called Brizhilli (mackerel in Breton).
Intended for catering professionals, the product can be served as an aperitif or in a salad with three flavors on the menu (pepper-paprika, carrot-roman and zucchini-mint). “It’s a good way to get people to eat fresh fish, especially young people who eat little of it,” says Adèle. And then we can’t do more local because we fish a lot of mackerel in Brittany. »
Fresh pasta stuffed with wild boar meat
We knew terrine or wild boar sausage. But not yet the fresh pasta stuffed with Obélix’s favorite meat. The idea came to us from nine students from Eastern France who developed the Les Mirés range of pasta. Because everywhere in the territory, wild boars swarm and wreak havoc on crops. To regulate their population, the authorities call on hunters who have a field day during administrative raids. “The hunters will keep part of the meat but otherwise it is abandoned,” emphasizes Amélie.
To reduce this waste, these students from Colmar and Nancy therefore thought about a new outlet for wild boar meat, combined in a stuffing with mushrooms and hazelnuts or with Mirabelle plums and chestnuts. “This allows you to discover wild boar in another facet, to eat it all year round and it’s quick and easy to cook,” promises Camille.