I’ll just start and say that this sounds like a bachelor’s dream. I mean, you sit in your man-cave and if you’re feeling like it’s time for a quick snack you just go to your Foodini (tough guess from where the inspiration draws huh?) printer and…print your meal of choice. No pesky kitchen pots, plates, stove or food delivery. This is the invention of a Barcelona company and is the first device of this kind. It looks like a regular 3D printer in size but instead of using plastic as the material for printing objects it uses stainless steel capsules filled with edible kitchen ingredients. I guess that goes to show you that you can now 3D print almost anything, but I for one would rather 3D print a delicious pizza than a gun. The device’s maker Natural Machines says that Foodini doesn’t take much space in a kitchen as a regular oven would.
Foodini is capable of producing a vast array of dishes ranging from pizzas and pastas to cakes, burgers and chocolate. And if I haven’t made it clear by now, all that Foodini prints is edible. The device is even more impressive since Natural Machines, the Barcelona Company behind this device, actually managed to get the different temperatures required for different meals right, and nailed the different food consistencies and even textures so that the printed food could actually be edible. Lynette Kucsma, co-founder of the Barcelona-based Natural Machines says that this oven-sized food producing 3D-printing device will initially be available to professional kitchen users and a consumer version will be developed shortly after. And the retail price will be around 1,000$.
The Foodini producers say that the printed food tastes delicious and that the printer toner is packed with organic ingredients without preservatives. Sounds too good to be true? Well, in a way it does. See, there’s a catch: Foodini has no built-in oven. At least, for the moment. And that means that the printed food still has to be cooked at the old-fashioned stove, but the Spaniards from Natural Machines solemnly promise that this problem will be addressed and solved in the future. For the sake of all couch potatoes out there they best get to it. All this is from a lazy man’s wet dream: instant burgers and presto pasta at the push of a button.
Can this be a food-printed breakfast? Yum
Natural Machines however states that this is not to be abused as the Foodini is designed to ease the difficult and cumbersome bits during food preparation that only the professional chefs or the experienced in cookery can dare to try. The Spanish company says is working in tandem with major food manufacturers to create pre-packaged printing capsules that when inserted into the machine will start making food. Natural Machines insist that the ingredients inside the capsules will be free of preservatives and have a shelf life of five days. The company admits that the printing process is slow, but able to create detailed cake decorations or food arrangements, and even tackle food recipes. And the Foodini features don’t stop: the Spaniards say that the touchscreen can connect to recipe sites in the cloud and that users will control their device through their smartphones. I guess the wives will be delighted by the latter. Print your food remotely from the smartphone, is it? We’ll just have to wait and see