Everyone is interested in gadgets that
save time, but this new technology almost sounds like something out
of the Jetsons. Most of you are probably familiar with the idea of a
3-d printer. They are used to "print", or make, items out
of plastic. 3-d printing has many practical applications from
building patient specific implants for medical use to creating coral
shaped pieces to entice coral polyps to recolonize damaged reefs.
3-d food printing uses the same basic technology, an additive process
that in this case builds something edible. Two types of 3-d food
printers will be introduced at the Maker Faire in Rome October 3-5th
this year. Foodini is a food printer that aims to be the next home
kitchen revolution, changing how we prepare food just as the
microwave did way back when. Foodini speeds up some of the prep work
in making a fresh, nutritious dish. For example it can build a pizza
crust, or print out ravioli. It can also make cookies and intricate
chocolates. The one caveat, and I believe for most this will be a big
caveat, is that any food that the Foodini processes must start out in
a paste or liquid form so that it can pass through the machinery.
Meaning you would have to take the time to process your meal into
paste before you can print anything out. The Foodini doesn't cook
food, so that is an additional step. Unfortunately, I think it is a
cool idea that might add up to being an expensive appliance, and in
the long run is only saving a bit of time. I do believe it has many
practical applications in professional bakery settings with its
ability to make designs out of candy. NASA has given the makers of
Foodini a grant to research "off-world" food processing. It
seems to make more sense to build food this way on the International
Space Station than for me to replace my microwave with this gadget.
The other 3-d printer you can experience at the Maker Faire is called
Dovetailed. Dovetailed is a fruit printer that uses a molecular
gastronomy technique to build fruit out of small bubbles of liquid.
So you can create a "raspberry" out of strawberry juice, or
basically any other mixed fruit creation you can imagine. Basically
if it is shaped like cavier, you can make it.
We're a long way from walking into the
kitchen stating what we'd like to eat and having that dish pop out of
a device for us. It is interesting that we are now using such high
tech equipment to do tasks that we could easily do by hand if we put
aside just a few extra minutes. According to Michael Pollan in his
book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation the
average American spends only 27 minutes a day preparing food. When
thinking about these food printers and what we are willing to do or
buy to make things easier or faster, I am reminded of a quote from
Pollan in his book: "When you consider that twenty-seven minutes
is less time than it takes to watch a single episode of Top
Chef or The Next Food
Network Star, you realize that
there are now millions of people who spend more time watching food
being cooked on television than they spend actually cooking it
themselves. I don't need to point out that the food you watch being
cooked on television is not food you get to eat." Now, I enjoy
watching the mentioned food shows myself, but I also spend a lot of
time in the kitchen (by choice). It's really a choice whether you are
willing to carve out the time to cook, or you want to spend that time
doing something else. We all have different priorities and that is
ok. I'm not sure if 3-d food printing will actually be a way of the
future for everyone, but perhaps for some it seems like an
interesting way to save time in the kitchen.
Read more:
Kitchen Science Links and Resources:
20 Kitchen Science Experiments for
Kids:
The Kitchen Pantry Scientist:
Easy, Edible Kitchen Science
Experiments from Education.com
