intermedia

It starts with a pile of soy pulp, which is wrapped in banana leaves and sprinkled with the spores of a fungus called Neurospora intermedia.

Hill-Maini's paper is the result of three years of investigating just where N. intermedia could grow, and whether it could turn the cast-offs and refuse of industrial food processing into something people would want to eat.

But what really fascinates him are the climate benefits N. intermedia could provide.

Rick von Hagn, who has spent the last few years experimenting with N. intermedia at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, says the taste and texture of this ancient way of cooking may do the trick on its own.

The two chefs have used N. intermedia to improve the texture of sausages made with a mixture of meat and grains or vegetables, and brought rock-hard bread "back to life" by fermenting it with the fungus and keeping it out of local landfills.