Gift Alert! Electrolux Cocoon

How futuristic is this? A meat- and fish-growing "Cocoon" designed by Rickard Hederstierna of the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden won this year's Electrolux Design Lab 2009 competition that challenged industrial design students around the world to create home appliances following the theme “Designs for the next 90 years."

The cocoon is a concept design intended for every day use that "prepares genetically engineered and prepackaged meat and fish dishes by heating muscle cells identified by radio frequency identification (RFID) signals."

Hederstierna said in an interview that he had sustainability and a minimal environment impact in mind when designing it. By using science to create food, it would reduce the need for intensive farming and fishing: "The negative effects of this process, including the mass transportation of food around the world, clearing of land and distortion of ecosystems, are then negated."

Future of food? We shall see.