From 2D to 3D food …

Pour some water and the pasta magically change shape. Credit: Michael Indresano Photography

I had the opportunity of visiting from time to time the Tangible Media Group at Media Lab, MIT Cambridge US, and I have always been fascinated by their capability to transform the idea of computer interaction into tangible ones (I still remember a system to design a telecommunication network using sand and laser light…).

Now I stumbled onto an article from that group reporting on the Transforming Appetite project.

Researchers have created layers of food materials, cellulose, starch, protein, through a process of controlled deposition (additive manufacturing, like the one used with 3D printers) that when immersed in water change their shape becoming 3D objects. The trick is in the way the layers are structured, leading to different ways of absorption of water as temperature increases.
Imagine. You take a bag of flat pasta, put it into boiling water (don’t forget a pinch of salt!) to cook them and when ready you’ll find “fusilli”, “penne”, “tortiglioni”, “conchiglie”…. (being Italian I know an unlimited set of names for different types of pasta).

Now this may just be fun, may be something to impress your friend. But behind it there is quite a bit of technology, an understanding of material structures and the capability to design them in such a way that they will acquire a desired property.  This is just an example of what we are going to see more and more: design structures that can evolve under specific conditions.

The researchers are also pointing out the advantage that may be derived in terms of packaging. It is clearly cheaper to package 2D layers than 3D objects. That is surely true, however I am still captivated by the idea of designing the properties of a material.

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.