"Would You Eat This 3D Printed Cheesecake?" Topic

"Scientists are taking 3D printing to a new level, this time with food. Engineers at Columbia University announced in a newly released study that they have successfully created an edible and possibly delicious cheesecake by using cartridges of food paste and powder in the printer.

The experiments did not stop at cheesecake but instead extended to other desserts and meats. According to a study published in the NPJ Science of Food, cooking food through a medium such as a 3D printer allows for better control over the nutritional content, leading to healthier food consumption…"

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Armand

Eat bugs.

You will own nothing and be happy.

Bunkermeister

Thanks, but no thanks, not my taste.
Is this the future of Columbia Dining plans?
I pray for the students.

But things are getting better.
Much much better:
SugarLabs3d – On YouTube
Tasty.

I've eaten 3d printed food. It's better than some prepared food, not as good as other.

Nutrient control is fine, but the real research areas are: (1) customizing "recipes" for individuals' preferences (SWMBO and I can get custom tacos exactly to our spice preferences), and (2) using "everything" as source materials, less organic waste, more food.

What do you they're eating on the USS Enterprise?

I'd eat printed food – why not? – but that item looks completely unappetizing.

"I'd eat printed food – why not? – but that item looks completely unappetizing."

This. Control of nutritional content is great and all, but from what I understand a lot of food depends on microscopic structure as much as ingredients. Do printers work at a molecular level? Not yet I'd have thought.
Plus I am not sure why super-sophisticated tech is deployed to do things that a human can already do with a little knowledge.

I'd eat the cake and the table it's sitting on. Food is food. Anything for fuel. No point in being squeamish. :)

Do printers work at a molecular level?

Yes. You can "3D print" chemicals from elements. That's not the tech from the article above, but it does exist.

More importantly, the 3D printer can use any raw materials you want, so if you need something, just make it an input. That leads to …

why super-sophisticated tech is deployed to do things that a human can already do

Making a pastry is a commonplace demonstration, not an assertion of the value of the tech. Like any tech, a 3D printer can change the logistic face of the operation. Why would you use all the tech of a tractor, when people can do the same operations with bare hands and no tools?

Producing a "cooked" pastry without an oven (and the commersurate wasted resources) has value. Especially if you do it fresh on demand, instead of the show up a Krispy Kreme when the donuts are scheduled to come out of the oven model. And you can on demand customize not just to flavor, but each person's specific dietary needs.

Which leads to the fact that in terms of low-level customization, this tech can do things with a degree of control that a cook can't. Like make me spanakopita with 500mg of iron and 200mg of vitamin D, but make you one with 200mg of iron and 500mg of vitamin D, because that's exactly what each of us needs. But mine tastes more like cheese and yours more like spinach because that what each of us wants.

Thanks

Armand

The other option is for long term space travel. Eating paste from a tube would get old real quick. We could grow a crop of soybeans and make it into something more palatable. Finally, good of science. Today's so so cheesecake can be advanced to a full thanksgivings dinner in the future.

a full thanksgivings dinner i

… steak and potatoes?

We did a traditional T'giving once. The first few I was deployed, then the first one we had as a family we were stationed in Japan, so the oven could not fit a turkey. So we never got the habit.

For serious space travel (which right now is ~8 months to get to Mars) you would want something to scrub C02 from the air, return some of the oxygen and combine the rest with the carbon and some spare H2 to make organic compounds as a base for 3D printing the food.

Hydroponics is less reliable, so that food is a treat.

Also, don't forget the citrus! As a sailor, I have an irrational concern about getting scurvy.

Thanks also…

Armand

Use the materials to print 1200 scale WWII warships.

If you sink it, you get to eat it…

There's an idea!

I don't need 3D printing … inlgames.com/kaijucookie.htm … we haven't had our game yet this year, but we did snag some deeeeeeeep discount gingerbread house kits two weeks ago.

Ha!…

Armand

No.

Does this mean that the old SF trope of a food dispenser into which characters submit an order by voice command, and then the requested dish appears almost instantaneously when a small door opens, is to become a reality?

If so, I'd think that the most effective use for such a technology, as per movies and TV, would be in the sealed environments required for space travel and exploration: spaceships, space stations, and planetary bases and colonies. It allows for total control of the 'cooking' process without the unpredictable mess and anthropogenic accidents of the traditional method, which could compromise a spaceship's or station's internal environment.