How 3D printing is shaking up high end dining(bbc.com)
bbc.com
How 3D printing is shaking up high end dining
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35631265
43 comments
It looks to be one of those trends which at fist is dazzling but then gets overused and people grow tired of it and go back to emphasizing other aspects.
The current climate is such that presentation rules over all else. It needs to look good in Instagram. Flavor is taking a back seat. There was a restaurant which was going against this trend, but, unfortunately also in a trendy way. They'd serve you dinner in near darkness. But of course the food wasn't normal food, they had to reel people in with unusual foods to make the experience more "memorable".
The current climate is such that presentation rules over all else. It needs to look good in Instagram. Flavor is taking a back seat. There was a restaurant which was going against this trend, but, unfortunately also in a trendy way. They'd serve you dinner in near darkness. But of course the food wasn't normal food, they had to reel people in with unusual foods to make the experience more "memorable".
I suspect that focusing on flavor and presentation are not mutually exclusive so I would think it would be easy to maintain novelty of presentation with a new creative vehicles for flavor which requires 3D printing.
To me a focus on presentation can be too gimmicky. And it's not only visual presentation but the at times silly introduction of the food, as if introducing me to one of their long time human friends. It's a bit nuts. Just make good food.
> The plating of a dish is nice, but flavor really counts.
Perception has been shown over and over to have dramatic influences on flavor: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/th...
Presentation is often seen as important as composition in culinary circles, and for good reason.
Perception has been shown over and over to have dramatic influences on flavor: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/th...
Presentation is often seen as important as composition in culinary circles, and for good reason.
An early example of 3d sugar printing, from Evil Mad Scientist Labs: http://candyfab.org/
And a higher-end example, including some really stunning pieces: http://www.3dsystems.com/culinary
And a higher-end example, including some really stunning pieces: http://www.3dsystems.com/culinary
The 3DSystems stuff is really nice, plus they have Hershey helping them out.
I saw them at the National Restaurant Show, but this video was shot around the same time, same booth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbFYZTrpM4
I saw them at the National Restaurant Show, but this video was shot around the same time, same booth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbFYZTrpM4
I am pretty disappointed in the printer shown in the clip. All the designs are really just a single layer. These 2D designs could certainly be made by a skilled hand without much effort.
The "impossible" designs from future 3D-printers will probably be cool, but the technology appears to not quite be there yet.
The "impossible" designs from future 3D-printers will probably be cool, but the technology appears to not quite be there yet.
There's a limit to how high you can pile a narrow line of a puree. Mashed potatoes will probably do a bit better, but you're still not going to get any "true" 3D design out of something that isn't solid.
There's also the time factor. Printing out a single layer of a sauce/puree in a fancy pattern is a lot faster than making a complex multi-layered shape.
At any rate, there are certainly 3D desserts and showpieces, and there have been for awhile. The neat part of this is that it's being used for more than just sugar and chocolate.
There's also the time factor. Printing out a single layer of a sauce/puree in a fancy pattern is a lot faster than making a complex multi-layered shape.
At any rate, there are certainly 3D desserts and showpieces, and there have been for awhile. The neat part of this is that it's being used for more than just sugar and chocolate.
50 years ago marketers and pundits predicted that today everybody would be eating what was, back then, "astronaut food": pills with nutrients and/or lyophilized (freeze-dried) food.
Today the strongest marketing trends in food are fresh, organic, local and seasonal.
No, 3d will not make a food revolution.
Today the strongest marketing trends in food are fresh, organic, local and seasonal.
No, 3d will not make a food revolution.
There's an important distinction between these two predictions which this comparison belies:
* "astronaut food" completely sacrifices the art and enjoyment of food for efficiency.
* 3D printing is a way to explore methods of increasing art and enjoyment of food (certainly not efficiency).
The complete absence of "astronaut food" in daily life, with the exception of Soylent/Ensure for a small minority, is I think indicative of two things:
1. We still don't really know what optimal nutrition is, so "try to eat lots of green things" is generally viewed as optimal. People rightfully don't trust anyone to decide what's optimal and codify it as a single food.
2. People don't even want to eat optimally, they want to enjoy eating. Astronaut food does not deliver on this.
3D printing does not attempt to provide optimal nutrition, but explores avenues to increase enjoyment of food. "Revolution", maybe not, but these two prediction are 100% orthogonal IMO.
* "astronaut food" completely sacrifices the art and enjoyment of food for efficiency.
* 3D printing is a way to explore methods of increasing art and enjoyment of food (certainly not efficiency).
The complete absence of "astronaut food" in daily life, with the exception of Soylent/Ensure for a small minority, is I think indicative of two things:
1. We still don't really know what optimal nutrition is, so "try to eat lots of green things" is generally viewed as optimal. People rightfully don't trust anyone to decide what's optimal and codify it as a single food.
2. People don't even want to eat optimally, they want to enjoy eating. Astronaut food does not deliver on this.
3D printing does not attempt to provide optimal nutrition, but explores avenues to increase enjoyment of food. "Revolution", maybe not, but these two prediction are 100% orthogonal IMO.
Mashed potato is still mashed potato, even if it was piped out of a tube. It's difficult to imagine how piped mash will result in a substantial increase in the enjoyment of my food. I would think that the food may even need to compromised in texture, and perhaps flavor, in order to accommodate the piping mechanism.
Never had potato foam then I assume?
ie:
http://theforkchicago.typepad.com/blog/2012/02/in-the-time-i...
ie:
http://theforkchicago.typepad.com/blog/2012/02/in-the-time-i...
I do not believe I have had potato foam. My comment was more about automated plating composition, than a particular preparation technique, or recipe.
How does piping it out of a tube turn mashed potato into potato foam?
Yeah, we'll see. I suspect there are chefs with more imaginative uses of this than you or I have. All I'm saying is you can't rule it out for the same reason as nutrient pills.
[deleted]
>People don't even want to eat optimally, they want to enjoy eating. Astronaut food does not deliver on this.
Really? I increase my enjoyment of food by eating when I am really actually hungry. Everything tastes good when you are hungry. Why do we need fancy tricks to make regular food palatable, Am I missing something here.
Really? I increase my enjoyment of food by eating when I am really actually hungry. Everything tastes good when you are hungry. Why do we need fancy tricks to make regular food palatable, Am I missing something here.
Since prediction A was wrong, logically, prediction B must also be wrong.
Well, first, it's an opinion, not a mathematical proof.
And secondly, just because you can't see the link between the two doesn't mean there's no link. Perhaps put it this way: 50 years ago, some people thought that highly processed foods were the quality food of the future. Over time it became apparent that quality food was considered to be 'back-to-basics', original and fresh stuff. Now there is a new trend of highly processing food that some think will be the quality food of the future.
Of course 3D printing food won't be anything more than a toy. It requires expensive equipment with a lot of maintenance, specific training, and can only be used with a limited subsection of foods (basically anything you can put into a piping bag, which also has to be stiff enough to support it's own weight). The idea of this spreading to the massed public is just ludicrous; who is going to be making the family dinner with a 3D printer? And keep on doing that regularly, once the novelty wears off?
A toy for high-end restaurants does not a food revolution make.
And secondly, just because you can't see the link between the two doesn't mean there's no link. Perhaps put it this way: 50 years ago, some people thought that highly processed foods were the quality food of the future. Over time it became apparent that quality food was considered to be 'back-to-basics', original and fresh stuff. Now there is a new trend of highly processing food that some think will be the quality food of the future.
Of course 3D printing food won't be anything more than a toy. It requires expensive equipment with a lot of maintenance, specific training, and can only be used with a limited subsection of foods (basically anything you can put into a piping bag, which also has to be stiff enough to support it's own weight). The idea of this spreading to the massed public is just ludicrous; who is going to be making the family dinner with a 3D printer? And keep on doing that regularly, once the novelty wears off?
A toy for high-end restaurants does not a food revolution make.
The closest to this astronaut food that we actually have (albeit not at large scale yet) is probably Soylent.
The closest is really backpacking food that you can find at your local outdoor store. You can get freeze dried versions of pretty much whatever you want.
The military also produces meals ready to eat (MREs) which are fairly easy for civilians to procure. Radiation is used to kill every living thing in MREs so the food can be shipped with most of its water content in it and still lasts for decades. MREs are incredibly nutritionally dense, though the lack in the flavor department. But I bet the lack of flavor is because their made by the lowest bidder for the military and not because of a technical restriction.
If you just want a meal in a can, there are dozens of brands of meal replacement shakes you can get at your local grocery store.
The military also produces meals ready to eat (MREs) which are fairly easy for civilians to procure. Radiation is used to kill every living thing in MREs so the food can be shipped with most of its water content in it and still lasts for decades. MREs are incredibly nutritionally dense, though the lack in the flavor department. But I bet the lack of flavor is because their made by the lowest bidder for the military and not because of a technical restriction.
If you just want a meal in a can, there are dozens of brands of meal replacement shakes you can get at your local grocery store.
Today's MREs are far far better than the ones I ate back in the 80's. People complain about the taste, but until you've eaten the "Dried pork pattie" (which resembled a desiccated cow flop), you haven't had a truly bad MRE.
The complaints of blandness are probably because they have to be eaten by a wide variety of military members, and having something high on the Scoville Scale would be a problem (although .. the tiny bottles of Tabasco are highly prized). The same meals also end up in non-military branded packaging being given to refugees, and often their stomachs can't handle anything spicy in the slightest after what they've been through.
The complaints of blandness are probably because they have to be eaten by a wide variety of military members, and having something high on the Scoville Scale would be a problem (although .. the tiny bottles of Tabasco are highly prized). The same meals also end up in non-military branded packaging being given to refugees, and often their stomachs can't handle anything spicy in the slightest after what they've been through.
Thank you for this. The Soylet emperor wears no clothes.
NON SEQUITUR
Claim A is made.
Evidence is presented for Claim A.
Therefore, claim C is true.
haha, trying to make something look organic by using a machine, which in the end makes it look like it's made with a cookie cutter.
I'm sure you could do much more interesting things with a food printer, like:
- actual structures with chocolate or sugar
- designs that would be to tedious to do by hand (I'd recommend using paths, not shapes to be filled as input data)
- semi-mixed flavors or flavor gradients
- print on to soup
- print from higher above, letting things fall organically
- dithered gradients on the plate
- play with speed to thin things out organically
I'm sure you could do much more interesting things with a food printer, like:
- actual structures with chocolate or sugar
- designs that would be to tedious to do by hand (I'd recommend using paths, not shapes to be filled as input data)
- semi-mixed flavors or flavor gradients
- print on to soup
- print from higher above, letting things fall organically
- dithered gradients on the plate
- play with speed to thin things out organically
> - actual structures with chocolate or sugar
Sugar Eiffel Tower dessert would be awesome! But then again, there are plenty of mass-produced items that are identical, intricate, and perfect. Part of the lure of gourmet is the hand-crafted dish unique to me.
I'm glad to see experimentation in gastronomy. Ultimately, the consumer will decide what techniques take hold for the long run.
Sugar Eiffel Tower dessert would be awesome! But then again, there are plenty of mass-produced items that are identical, intricate, and perfect. Part of the lure of gourmet is the hand-crafted dish unique to me.
I'm glad to see experimentation in gastronomy. Ultimately, the consumer will decide what techniques take hold for the long run.
It's always interesting to see the reasons behind food and the relation to the status classes.
I remember reading how in the Renaissance Madonnas had a high BMI (sorry for the use of BMI, I'm not sure if "little fat" it's an adequate way of describing them) because food were scarce and then being fat was a way of portraying wealth, see for reference the Mona Lisa or other Da Vinci paintings.
In modern times, healthy food is the new "wealth food" because it's more expensive due to several factors including but not limited to body preference for fats and sugars for historical and evolutionary reasons and how this has been exploited by the industry (e.g. fast food).
With that said when I hear "High End Dining" I think about a breast of chicken complemented with food intended to have a delicious tasting AND healthy.... not "this looks nice on photos" food.
I remember reading how in the Renaissance Madonnas had a high BMI (sorry for the use of BMI, I'm not sure if "little fat" it's an adequate way of describing them) because food were scarce and then being fat was a way of portraying wealth, see for reference the Mona Lisa or other Da Vinci paintings.
In modern times, healthy food is the new "wealth food" because it's more expensive due to several factors including but not limited to body preference for fats and sugars for historical and evolutionary reasons and how this has been exploited by the industry (e.g. fast food).
With that said when I hear "High End Dining" I think about a breast of chicken complemented with food intended to have a delicious tasting AND healthy.... not "this looks nice on photos" food.
Not even high-end dining -- imagine the possibilities for wedding halls, where they could produce chocolates printed in the bride & grooms names for everyone. Or bread rolls in the shape of wedding bells. Line up 4 or 5 printers and have a junior pastry chef running them.
The future work of getting it to cook the ingredients sounds interesting.
"Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
I don't believe this is shaking up anything. What this person is doing(I know personally the guy, I was born in Spain) 2D presentations(plotters) has been done by cookers manually for decades.
IMHO 3d printers are going to be very important in the future,but not in their current form.
I volunteer teaching kids 3d printing and engineering not because the present but because of the evolution of it in 10 or 15 years.
Like it was essential to me to have an assembler or compiler when I was young in order to own a computer company or control machines as an adult, being raised with 3d printing is going to be essential for owning the robotics and technology space of the future(DNA manipulation).
IMHO 3d printers are going to be very important in the future,but not in their current form.
I volunteer teaching kids 3d printing and engineering not because the present but because of the evolution of it in 10 or 15 years.
Like it was essential to me to have an assembler or compiler when I was young in order to own a computer company or control machines as an adult, being raised with 3d printing is going to be essential for owning the robotics and technology space of the future(DNA manipulation).
This is super awesome! I'm a little bit disappointed with the examples from the company behind the product though[1]
Many of these could probably just have been made with a cookie cutter or a pastry bag. I could imagine the the big issue with supporting all types of materials is the wild inconsistencies in viscosity for the different types of food.
[1] https://www.naturalmachines.com/
Many of these could probably just have been made with a cookie cutter or a pastry bag. I could imagine the the big issue with supporting all types of materials is the wild inconsistencies in viscosity for the different types of food.
[1] https://www.naturalmachines.com/
I didn't need any more reason to think that high end dining is silly, but now I have it.
"shaking up" is a pretty generous term here
can it print a couple drops of some broth in the middle of the plate and called it a dish? Maybe print a fake leaf as garnish on the side? Michelin rating for sure
Also, a lab at Cornell has done work on 3D printing food: http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/node/194
And of course NASA is exploring 3D printing food in space: http://www.3dprintingprogress.com/articles/9147/3d-printing-...