Digital Cornucopia: The Food Printer

24 Oct 2010

If there were no supermarkets, farmers markets, or csas, would you want the option to print your food? This question came out of some of the idea storm at our last food+tech meetup.

While it may not be a reality yet, Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran, grad students in the MIT Fluid Interfaces Group, have developed a concept design for a digital fabricator.

Photograph is by MIT Fluid Interfaces Group: http://web.media.mit.edu/~marcelo/cornucopia/

According to their site:

The Digital Fabricator is a personal, three-dimensional printer for food, which works by storing, precisely mixing, depositing and cooking layers of ingredients. Its cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user’s favorite ingredients. These are piped into a mixer and extruder head that can accurately deposit elaborate food combinations with sub-millimeter precision. While the deposition takes place, the food is heated or cooled by the Fabricator’s chamber or the heating and cooling tubes located on the printing head. This fabrication process not only allows for the creation of flavors and textures that would be completely unimaginable through other cooking techniques, but, through a touch-screen interface and web connectivity, also allows users to have ultimate control over the origin, quality, nutritional value and taste of every meal.”