Added: 26.11.2009 16:07
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Food printer

In 2030 one kitchen appliance, food printer, might be all that is needed for cooking

It is possible that in the future it is not necessary to bring home many different foodstuffs and then prepare them using several different appliances in order to be able to enjoy a full meal. Instead, you could just take a few capsules containing molecules that make the building blocks of the food you intend to enjoy, insert them in to a food printer, place the printer on a plate and wait a while. After a moment, the meal of your choice is ready your plate.

This type of cooking might be made possible by developments in molecular gastronomy and 3d printing.

Molecular gastronomy is a scientific discipline that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking. One area of interest in the field of molecular gastronomy is the study of how food can be deconstructed and later reassembled to produce new foods and completely new flavours. 3d printing is an existing technology which is used mainly when making prototypes different kinds of manufactured objects.

The technology behind food printer would base on a layer-by-layer printing technique that arranges small particles from a set of ingredients. The food printer would accept various edible ingredients and then combine and print them in the desired shape and consistency. The user could choose desired shape and flavour for the output, for instance produce an object that looks like a potatoe but tastes like a stake (or vice versa) or just a plain burger with french fries (which would taste just like burger and french fries).

Opportunity: Easy to lead a healthy lifestyle, no food is wasted

Threat: People forget how to prepare food using real vegatebles, meat, etc.

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Comments

(01 Feb 2011)
Would make the life of people with special diets (fitness people/allergists) easier.