Pizzas made using plant-based cheeses, tomatoes grown without soil and flour made from insects could be the norm by 2039, according to a new report.

As the human population continues to grow, keeping the world fed and making sure that the Earth is being looked after is becoming increasingly difficult.

So it's no surprise that scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and farmers are banding together to find new ways to produce food in more sustainable ways.

To highlight how our favourite meals may change in years to come, The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair has revealed the Pizza of the Future.

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Image:
Big Bang Fair)

Created by futurist Tom Cheesewright, the pizza looks like a regular cheese and tomato pizza – but the recipe is rather less familiar.

It features super sustainable tomatoes grown all year round in LED-lit self-sufficient hydroponic farms using coconut husk "soil" and pollinated by the farm's own bee population, and cheese made using the protein of almonds.

As for the dough base, it's made using ground-up insects - crickets, to be exact.

"Even replacing 20%-25% of the grain used for bread with a protein-packed alternative such as crickets could transform our reliance on the planet’s resources such as water, energy and land," said Cheesewright.

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Image:
Big Bang Fair)

And that's just the start. Cheesewright said that, by 2069, your pizza could be made using lab-grown meats and cheese, 3D printed by a robot chef and charred with lasers.

"The Big Bang Pizza of the Future has been made using technology that is ready right now, but more big changes are on the way," said Cheesewright.

"We are just around the corner from commercially-available lab-grown meats and cheeses and giant vertical farms supplying city supermarkets with salad leaves.

"Your future pizza might be made from ingredients that have never seen the sun, or grazed in a field. And, it might be 3D printed by a robot chef and then carefully charred around the edges by a laser grill.

"This is truly just a taster of what the future holds.”

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Image:
Big Bang Fair)

Beth Elgood, Director of Communications at EngineeringUK, added that developments in science, engineering and technology are at the heart of feeding the world's population - both now and in the future. 

"The next generation of scientists and engineers will be crucial to finding ways that balance the needs of a growing population with the availability of sustainable food sources," she said.

The Big Bang Future Pizza will be available to try for free at Made of Dough, in Peckham, London on Friday 11 October from 6pm.

Meanwhile, the Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair will taking place from 11 – 14 March 2020 at The NEC in Birmingham. Registrations for free tickets open this week.