Digesting Tubes
How would we tackle our food problem if we adapted ourselves instead of our food? Throughout history, we have continuously changed our environment to survive. We developed agriculture, technology, and created food that suits our needs. But in a world of climate change and food shortages, that approach is no longer sustainable.

With Digesting Tubes (/Etende Buizen), artist and Future Food Designer Chloé Rutzerveld challenges you to look at the solution from a different angle. Can we adapt ourselves to eat more sustainably and efficiently? She explores speculative scenarios where our bodies play a more active role in making our food system more sustainable.

We know that the current food system is not future-proof for the growing global population. While there is significant investment in alternative proteins and plant-based products, one question remains: Are our bodies optimally equipped to thrive on these sources? Animals like cows and beavers can digest grass and wood, while our bodies already struggle with digesting corn. What if we could adapt our bodies to digest plant-based food more efficiently, just like these animals? An extra organ or a change in our gut microbiome? Or even a genetic modification?

Digesting Tubes takes you through three possible scenarios inspired by the animal kingdom. In each scenario, Rutzerveld proposes a different kind of adaptation. From subtle adjustments to radical transformations—how far would you go to contribute to a more sustainable food system?

With this new perspective on our place in the food chain, Rutzerveld invites you to think about the role humans play in creating a more sustainable future.

On display until May 15, 2025
The installation Digesting Tubes will be on display for six months beginning November 15 in the ARTIS Groote Museum and joins the permanent collection. In the museum, visitors explore the similarities and dependencies between humans, animals and plants. In this, the future plays an important role. Digesting Tubes can be seen in the zone that deals with the social engineering of the world.

Scenario 1

A daily shot of bacteria

What if… we took a shot of super-bacteria every day to help us digest plant fibres more efficiently and extract more nutrients from them?

Plant fibres are difficult to digest, partly because of the cellulose in their cell walls. Did you know that no mammal is capable of breaking down cellulose by itself?

We need a variety of bacteria to help us digest plant fibres. Our distant ancestors had many more of these fibre-digesting bacteria in their gut, but during the course of evolution and because of our Western diet in recent centuries, some of these bacteria have become extinct.

Scenario 2

An extra organ

What if… we expanded our digestive tract with an extra organ such as an extra stomach (like a cow) or a crop (like a bird) to contain fibre-digesting bacteria?

All animals are essentially ‘digesting tubes’: a tube from mouth to anus that converts food into energy. The construction of that tube – the digestive tract – determines what each animal can eat.

Foregut-fermenting animals benefit most from their partnership with bacteria, which are made up of proteins and produce beneficial vitamins and fatty acids. They get to digest the bacteria population and the beneficial nutrients as a supplement to their diet! Who wouldn’t want that?

Scenario 3

A modification in our DNA

What if… we were able to create all essential amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins that our bodies need by genetically modifying our DNA?

Our ancient ancestors were able to make vitamin C from glucose, but we lost this ability millions of years ago. To get vitamin C, we eat vegetables and fruit, just as most people eat animal products to get essential amino acids and fatty acids. We cannot produce these ourselves, but we get them from our diet.

By modifying specific genes in our DNA or inserting new genes from other organisms, it would become possible to develop new functions such as the production of essential amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins. Genetically reprogramming humans is still a thing of the future but with technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 scientists can already make very targeted changes to our DNA.