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Cornucopia - The Next Generation Food?

01/25/2010, tags: info, news, cornucopia

While twittering with my blogger friends the other morning, Pierre, my ever the tech geek, messaged me this from his office... upstairs. (yes, we do message each others even under the same roof)

It seems the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is also looking into the 21st century cooking, coming up with Cornucopia, a "personal food factory", but that you could probably describe as a food printer. While a printer draws on a sheet of paper, and some upcoming 3D printers can actually build whole objects on demand, this one will actually use a bunch of ingredients to make food driven by computer commands :

Cornucopia's cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user's favorite ingredients. These are piped into a mixer and extruder head that can accurately deposit elaborate combinations of food.

Can a machine really do all that? Wow! If this really works out, it could completely revolutionalized the way food is being prepared today. Imagine a machine making elaborate combination of food that is not only edible but also supposedly smells close to what you ordered. Doesn't that sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie?

It is said that it can create texture too. I wonder what kind of texture can it create? Imagine a world without human touch in food, a world without cooking or baking... Gasp! Quelle horreur! Quelle catastrophe! I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not ready for this kind of food nor cooking style.

cornucopia MITcornucopia MIT
17 comments.
#1, by Sunita (01/25/2010)

Me neither; I still like it the old fashioned way, thank you:-)But, then again, probably this is a sign of things to come; a couple of hundred years ago,who would have thought of any of the processed foods that are available today!

#2, by diva (01/25/2010)

takes away the fun of cooking and the aesthetics of presenting it on a dish. I find this dubious and reminds of those comic book stories or cartoons in the past - canteen food that just squirts it out like dung on a metal tray. HAHA. or maybe my imagination just runs wild?? xx

#3, by Sarah, Maison Cupcake (01/25/2010)

Yikes! This sounds HORRIBLE! It'll never catch on!

#4, by deeba (01/25/2010)

Oh dear Pamela...hope we don't become redundant! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! And then we see Diva's wild imagination...more ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! What a cornucopia of thoughts, huh?
Off to calculate the spam question...he he!

#5, by Taste Traveller (01/25/2010)

I actually think this is really cool. I imagine myself spending as much time toying with the machine & trying to tweak it as I do cooking. Plus, no pots to clean up? Not a bad deal. But no machine can replace humans. We'll still be needed to create the prototype favourite meals.

#6, by LCOM (01/25/2010)

Very sci-fi indeed!

#7, by Su-yin (01/25/2010)

This machine scares me..... :P

#8, by Roj TV (01/26/2010)

it it sooooooooo coooooooool

#9, by Asha@FSK (01/26/2010)

Oh Gah! I wouldn't want to live in that world!! :OO seems like a never ending spread of bars.. Gak!! I say, MIT needs to do more productive stuff like solve the energy crisis:-))

#10, by Juliana (01/26/2010)

Interesting, but I rather make my own "mix":-)

#11, by tigerfish (01/26/2010)

I would like to have the option but not abuse it. On lazy days, I definite hope my food can be prepared by "someone else" - as long as I still make sure I have my own ingredients - the machine can do the cutting, slicing etc for me. On inspirational and motivated days, I can do everything on my own! :P

#12, by The Little Teochew (01/26/2010)

LOL! You and Pierre messaging each other under the same roof is hilarious. As for that food printer, no thanks. That's not cooking. It's missing the most important ingredient - love.

#13, by saucy smith (01/26/2010)

Nope...this machine concept thingy totally not working for me . But thanks for the post. I did NOT know!! MIT hmmmmm
Cheers
SAUCY

#14, by AmuseBoucheUK (01/26/2010)

Why dose it remind me of the MRM videos I've seen?
What's MIT? : Mainly Idiotic Technicians? -
Where is the tube of LURRVE that I put into MY cooking? (actually THAT sounds disgusting don't it - sorry!)
Cheers
@amuseboucheUK

#15, by Jeanne @ Cooksister (01/26/2010)

Oh dear... I'm sure that's a technological feat, but as a culinary idea it sounds horrible! I say we stick with actual humans cooking;-)

#16, by Nina (01/27/2010)

Interesting one though...but i prefer the old fashioned way:)

#17, by Troy (02/05/2010)

"get your lazy butt to the store and pick me up some food canisters"

common phrase around the house, 50 years from now:-)

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