These 9 'future food' trends are changing the way we eat

In recent years, Silicon Valley has turned its eyes on the food industry. From coffee-infused gummies to lab-grown meat, the foods in development today are shaping the culinary scene of tomorrow.

Whether your ideal meal is a quinoa bowl served by "robots" or meal-replacement beverage Soylent, there's something for everyone.

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You can ditch your cup of joe for "chewable coffee."

Imagine if instead of rolling out of bed to brew a pot of coffee, you pop a sugar-coated, caffeine-infused gummy into your mouth to get moving.

Nootrobox, a hot startup out of Silicon Valley once dubbed the Birchbox of cognitive enhancers, has made "chewable coffee" a reality. Its Go Cubes are made with real cold-brew coffee and aim to improve clarity and focus, without causing unwanted side effects like jitteriness.

The bite-sized cubes are the equivalent to drinking half a cup of coffee.

Plant-based foods may soon be indistinguishable from the foods they imitate.

Until recently, veggie burgers resembled pan-fried Frisbees more closely than beef. Now, startups are reinventing meat and dairy substitutes.

A new plant-based burger by Beyond Meat"bleeds" juices in every bite (it's actually a pulverized beet blend). Impossible Foods, a company Google tried to buy for $200 million in 2015, makes a legume-based burger that's so convincing, Momofuku restaurant empire head David Chang wrote in a review, "Today I tasted the future and it was vegan."

Craving dairy? Try Kite Hill's yogurts and cream cheese spreads made from almond blends. You might not notice the difference.

The automat is back.

The automat first became a go-to lunch destination in the mid-twentieth century, when New York City's 50 automat locations attracted some 350,000 customers a day. Now, decades later, it's back.

Fast-food chain Eatsa uses technology to automate the ordering and pick-up processes, so a customer can dine in or out, no interaction with a human required.

The vegetarian restaurant specializes in quinoa bowls that cost about $7 and serves food through glass-doored cubbies in the wall. The first locations are now open in San Francisco and Los Angeles.