Need to Know
01 : 11 : 22

Italy – Luxury house Gucci is expanding its presence in the metaverse. The Italian company has brought its experimental online space Gucci Vault to the digital real estate platform The Sandbox. The virtual pop-up, which will be open until 9 November, aims to educate and entertain Gucci’s online community.

The interactive fashion experience includes a virtual display of vintage items, as well as games that will teach players about the luxury house’s history and heritage. Riffing on the popular ‘play-to-earn’ format, the pop-up describes itself as a ‘play-to-know’ model. Visitors will be invited to participate in games that teach them about the company's key pillars, such as repairing vintage handbags in the Vault Vintage Lab and deciphering riddles in the Vault Room of Rhyme.

One of the first luxury companies to launch an NFT and enter existing gaming platforms, Gucci continues to be the standard-bearer of the metaverse. ‘Gucci is not afraid to be a first mover in many areas and will continue to adopt this mindset and challenge the status quo,’ explains Marco Bizzarri, CEO of Gucci.

UK – The Anthropocene Cookbook radically re-assesses humankind’s contemporary eating habits and traditions – redefining food taboos and proposing new recipes for survival in future catastrophes.

Written by Zane Cerpina and Stahl Stenslie, this ‘cookbook of ideas’ looks at food under the lenses of art, culture and science. The anthology comprises more than 60 experimental and thought-provoking projects to challenge our perceptions of food or how we define edible ingredients. Think whisky made from urine, cheese using human breastmilk or the idea of bringing back extinct species in order to eat them.

‘The availability of traditional foods is changing rapidly. Our current menu is going extinct. Including the new and strange is a good start for us not only to survive but also to thrive in the Anthropocene,’ explain the authors.

To discover the rituals, flavour profiles and bio-hacks that will drive the food and drink market in the coming decade, tune in to our Food & Drink Futures 2022 online event on 1 December.

Europe – Four out of five Europeans say national and EU policymakers should introduce new legislation and provide financial support to help consumers adopt sustainable eating habits, according to WWF’s latest survey on food habits in the EU, the UK and Mexico.

EU citizens believe governments should also be addressing the influence of advertisements on food choices – more than half (57%) agree that public funds should not be used to advertise unhealthy or unsustainable food. But fewer people back more restrictive policies, such as banning adverts for non-sustainable food (36%) or increasing the price of non-sustainable food (49%).

‘Unless our governments and the EU take action, families will continue to struggle to access sustainable, healthy food – let alone afford it,’ says Giulia Riedo, agriculture and food systems policy officer at WWF. ‘The best option for our planet and health should also be the most accessible.’

Consumers’ plea for better access to better food choices and the EU’s upcoming Sustainable Food System Law are both laying the foundations for future-fit food systems that better reflect social values and preferences.