Best Food Inventions of 2024, According to TIME Magazine

TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2024” list highlights impressive breakthroughs across sectors, including a variety of inventive solutions in the food industry. Last year’s food inventions spotlighted unique products like a sugar pen, an advanced avocado variety and a cutting-edge induction cooktop, proving that innovation in food is diverse and expansive.

This year, TIME continues the trend, recognizing inventions that push boundaries in sustainability, nutrition and culinary technology. Here’s a closer look at the food inventions of 2024 that are setting new standards for the industry.

Sustainable Meat Alternatives

Meatable’s Lab-Grown Pork: From Stem Cells to Sustainable Food

Through its Opti-Ox technology, Dutch company Meatable creates genuine pork in a lab, transforming pig stem cells into muscle and fat tissues within four days. This approach to meat production offers a low-emission alternative to livestock farming and aims to hit the Singapore market soon, paving the way for eco-conscious meat options. Meatable also partnered with Sticta Biologicals to develop a genome-scale metabolic model of porcine cells, optimizing nutrients for cell growth with more yield and reduced variability.

Innovative Kitchen Appliances

GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker: The Indoor Barbeque

GE’s Smart Indoor Smoker brings the art of smoked meats indoors, featuring an active smoke filtration system and smartphone integration for easy monitoring. With five smoke levels and SmartHQ app integration, users can monitor cooking remotely. This efficient design minimizes wood pellet use, optimizing energy and reducing waste, making it an innovative choice for precise, resource-efficient smoking in home or industry kitchens.

DREO ChefMaker Combi Fryer: Air Frying for Tenderness

The DREO ChefMaker Combi Fryer introduces CombiCook technology to optimize moisture and texture. Equipped with a heat probe, water atomizer and convection heating, it achieves precise control over cooking progress, delivering tender interiors with crisp exteriors. The real-time adjustments maintain nutrient integrity and texture, meeting professional standards in culinary consistency.

LG’s Signature Kitchen Suite Wall Oven: AI-Driven Precision Cooking

The Signature Kitchen Suite 30-inch Wall Oven integrates AI-enabled Gourmet AI technology, with optimized cooking modes providing intelligent recipe suggestions. Its HD camera supports real-time monitoring and data collection on cooking processes, while versatile functions — like steam convection and sous vide — enable controlled cooking environments. This oven’s AI-driven features also offer insights into temperature regulation and nutrient preservation.

Sustainable Packaging Solutions

Bell Bowls’ Clamshell To-Go Container: Biodegradable Takeaway

Bell Bowls tackles single-use waste with a biodegradable clamshell container, crafted from sugarcane-based material. It’s oil-proof and includes a built-in drink holder, offering a sustainable option for takeout services which reduces the environmental burden of plastic.

Advanced Cooking Technologies

Graphene Square’s Cordless Transparent Cooker: Nanomaterial Efficiency

A Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 Innovation Awards Honoree, the Graphene Square Cordless Transparent Cooker uses mid-infrared radiation from graphene — an ultra-thin, highly conductive material — to achieve precise cooking at 600 watts, consuming 30 percent less energy than standard heating elements. Its transparent cook surface allows for real-time monitoring, while its battery-powered design eliminates cords. Following the 2022 TIME-featured Graphene Kitchen Styler, this cooker enables eco-efficient cooking in professional and consumer settings.

Enhancing Nutrition

Brightseed Forager: Mapping Bioactives for Wellness

Brightseed’s Forager AI platform accelerates the discovery of bioactives, naturally occurring compounds that impact human health, linking plant molecules to benefits in months instead of years. Leveraging a growing library of these compounds, Forager provides molecular insights to optimize food and supplement formulations. It also evaluates supply chains and processing impacts, unlocking health potential. Partnering with ADM and Blue Diamond, Forager demonstrates AI’s role in advancing bioactive-rich ingredients for functional nutrition.

Filtered Water, Anywhere

LifeStraw Sip: Portable Water Filtration

Made of stainless steel, the Sip water filter straw is equipped with a high-flow membrane to remove 99.999999 percent of bacteria, 99.999 percent of parasites and 99.999 percent of microplastics, allowing safe drinking from natural sources. Designed for on-the-go filtration, it delivers up to 1,000 liters of clean water per filter, ensuring effective, portable hydration. Each purchase supports LifeStraw’s Give Back program, providing one year of safe water to a child in need, reflecting its commitment to global water safety.

Precision Cooking

ThermoPro Twin TempSpike: Remote-Controlled Precision Cooking

The ThermoPro Twin TempSpike offers dual wireless probes with a 500-foot Bluetooth range, allowing precise temperature tracking across multiple dishes. With advanced temperature accuracy and real-time alerts through the TempSpike app, it supports precise, consistent cooking. Its waterproof, rechargeable design and dual-probe capability also reduce cross-contamination risk, making it a practical tool for commercial kitchens focused on quality and efficiency.

Fresher Herbs

Eden Green Herb Program: Consistently Fresh, Locally Sourced

Eden Green’s herb program uses patented microclimate technology to grow herbs like basil, parsley, rosemary and mint year-round in a Texas vertical greenhouse. Each plant’s environment is optimized, reducing waste and boosting yield to 350,000 to 400,000 pounds per facility annually. With farm-to-shelf delivery within 48 hours, major providers like Walmart and Sysco benefit from a fresher, local herb supply chain, minimizing long transport routes and traditional distribution complexities.