This 3D Printer Cooks Up an Impressive Future For Food
By Max Chang
A startup has created the ultimate food printer for lazy people who don’t like to cook but still want to eat healthy. It’s called the Foodini — made by Barcelona-based startup Natural Machines — and it may just be the next revolution in food.
“In essence, this is a mini food manufacturing plant shrunk down to the size of an oven,” co-founder Lynette Kucsma told CNN at the Web Summit in Dublin.
The printer can virtually print anything out of certain foods, but this is one you have to see to believe — this printer can tackle pasta, burgers, pizza and some really tasty looking appetizers and desserts.
“It’s the same technology, but with plastics there’s just one melting point, whereas with food it’s different temperatures, consistencies and textures. Also, gravity works a little bit against us, as food doesn’t hold the shape as well as plastic.”
The food, all of it natural and fresh, is loaded through plastic capsules, and Natural Foods assures that the food will be preservative free with a shelf life of five days. The device currently only prints food, which must then be cooked, but in the future, the printer will be able to do both tasks. Users can even control the Foodini from their smart phone.
“There’s a touchscreen on the front that connects to a recipe site in the cloud, so it’s an internet-of-things, connected kitchen appliance.”
Here are some impressive examples of what the printer can whip up:
Sweet Potato and Apple Hash Browns
Here the 3D printer is making a pizza.
And voila! This 3D printed pizza looks more appetizing than most frozen pizzas.
Plate Divider appetizer made out of Purple Potatoes.
This is what a 3D printed salad looks like.
Delicious Pumpkin Gnocchi
3D printed Mini-Burgers
A freshly printed bowl of spaghetti.
A 3D printed salad tower.
And for dessert, a printed white chocolate bunny on top of a carrot cake cookie.
“We have done tests and everybody liked the food … Take the microwave oven, for example: in the 70s, people were a bit fearful about it, they thought food could be poisoned with radiation or something, but fast forward 30 years, and there’s one in every household. This is real food, with real fresh ingredients, it’s just prepared using a new technology.”
The first generation of the printer is scheduled to be available for purchase next year for a retail price of $1000. Natural Machines is reportedly seeking to finance the future production of more Foodinis, which will be just absolutely perfect for lazy hungry people and stoners.
Source: CNN
Images via Natural Machines
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