EDIBLE 3D ART

The French Culinary Institute in Manhattan is clearly at the forefront of culinary arts, with its new 3D food printer. An innovative group of students and faculty members at the distinguished Cornell University built the first 3D printer as a project and began to test it on food. The French Culinary Institute are the first and only to experience this incredible technology.

Associate professor Hod Lipson is the head of the project, which came out of Cornell’s Fab@Home venture. The project was started in 2005 and targeted to “create do-it-yourself versions of machines that can manufacture custom objects on-demand. The group started experimenting with food fabrication in 2007.”

The device currently looks “like an industrial fabrication machine.” However, if proven successful will be honed in, to create a slick printer like device, that could even be used in the comfort of your own home. Syringes of icing or chocolate are loaded into the printer like cartridges in an HP inkjet. The “ingredient-filled syringes will then ‘print’ icing on a cupcake.” Jeff Lipton, a Cornell grad student pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering explained, "You hand [the computer] three bits of info: a shape that you want, a description of how that shape can be made, and a description of how that material that you want to print with works."

Lipton boasted, “Food printing will be ‘the killer app’ of 3D printing. Just like video games fueled demand for personal computers 30 years ago, he thinks the lure of feeding Grandma's cookie recipe into a printer will help personal fabricators expand beyond the geek crowd.” He stated, "It's really going to be the next phase of the digital revolution,"

Personally I do not like to cook, even though I’m fairly good at it. However, this technology may make cooking for the holidays a less daunting task! Imagine 3D icing designs of snowmen, Christmas trees, snowflakes and etc. on you mother’s mouth-watering cookies. I certainly look forward to this technology!!!