Plant-based foods for a healthy future
Patrick Rühs reveals why processed foods are crucial to global nutrition – and why blue corn tortillas are his favourite dish.
What makes a food “healthy”?
Patrick Rühs: There are no inherently healthy foods – only healthy eating habits. Variety, balance and moderation are the key. As long as you respect these three principles, you can eat almost anything and still have a healthy diet.
What’s your favourite dish?
Nixtamalised blue corn tortillas! Nixtamalisation is a traditional process that makes corn more nutritious and easier to work with. Top the tortillas with a vegetarian meat alternative, coriander, refried beans, pickled red onions, avocado, lime juice, smashed cucumber and a spicy Mexican salsa, and you have the perfect combination of flavours and colours.
Sustainable by design
Why do we eat so many processed foods?
Food processing is vital to global food secur?ity. It prevents spoilage, keeps foods edible and free from toxins – and, of course, without processing, we wouldn’t have bread! Certain processing techniques also unlock nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable.
Up until 2024 you were Head of Science at the ETH spin-off Planted Foods. How does that shape your work as an ETH professor?
It gave me an understanding of the food industry’s needs and the technical hurdles that lie ahead. That helps me focus my research on the key issues we’ll face in the future.
You studied food science at ETH Zurich – now you teach it. What has changed in the meantime?
Today’s students bring their laptops to class and get explanations in real time from AI. But they’re also far more actively involved in the learning process. Understanding concepts is way more valuable than simply memorising facts. It’s this that will really help students when they enter the world of work.
What will our diets look like ten years from now?
I hope we’ll be eating far more plant-based foods, because they’re better for our health and planet and are the key to a sustainable future.
About
Patrick Rühs is Assistant Professor of Food Structure Engineering in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich. His tenure-track professorship is funded by a donation from Givaudan, Bühler and Nestlé.