It sounds likes something out of the Jetsons, but three-dimensional printed food is quickly becoming a reality.
What is 3D Printing?
For those who aren’t familiar, 3D printers work just like regular printers—only rather than ink as a medium, it uses a variety of substances to create a 3D object. So rather than your resume on a word doc, you need a 3D model on your computer, usually designed as a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file. The applications can be as silly as a plastic action figure, to creating perfected prototypes for space and aviation. Read more about 3D printing here.
From pixels to plate, food has become 3D printing’s delicious new frontier
Just like regular 3D printers, this process of adding layers and layers of edible material, creates a food structure. For example, Foodini is 3D printer that creates savory or sweet cuisines and is primarily used in super high-end restaurants. Basically, you add fresh ingredients, choose the design you want and voilà! But is this sustainable way to make food? What’s the nutritional value? What are the actual ingredients? There are a lot of questions that you can read more about here.
Printed Latte Art
We’re no stranger to 3D printing, we’ve worked with a latte art printer, Ripple, to print perfect logos and images on lattes. While this isn’t the same as creating a meal out of nothing, we’re excited about the future of printing, technology and automation. Read more about Ripple here.
