The Foodini

3D printing is becoming a revolutionary technology. Companies such as GE and Rolls Royce are already using it to make parts more efficiently. 3D printing technology is now looking to expand to the food industry. A 3D printer to be used in the kitchen is being called the Foodini, which combines "food, technology, art and design" and can be used to make anything. Users of the machine just load capsules of ingredients, choose a design on the machine's control panel, and the food is "printed" for them as the ingredients are built up in layers. The machine is expected to go on sale in mid 2014.

While this technology and the idea of being able to "print" food is fascinating and definitely a cool idea, the article presenting this information is quick to question the intentions. They point out that it is understandable why a manufacturing company would utilize this technology to make parts more efficiently, but why would we want to "print" food? They continue by emphasizing that the Foodini doesn't actually cook anything. It doesn't time anything, spice it, flavor it, any of the things that determine the actual taste of food. All it does is combine all of the ingredients for you. What problem is the Foodini trying to solve?

The machine just makes sure that all of the ingredients are precise and correct for what you are trying to make. They use an example of "printing" a pizza and say that now the dough can be perfectly round and the sauce can be level. However, standardizing the proportions of the ingredients doesn't necessarily make something more enjoyable to eat. Having a pizza that isn't perfectly round doesn't make it a bad pizza. I think that while this technology is certainly useful in some industries and an interesting and revolutionary idea, I agree with this article that it might not be well suited for the food industry.

Read more about the Foodini from the article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/11/now-you-can-3d-print-your-food-with-the-foodini/

Pictures: http://www.designboom.com/technology/3d-print-a-pizza-with-the-foodini-kitchen-appliance-12-06-2013/