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| Sample 3D-Cuisines Food Models |
3D food printing introduces a vast variety of possibilities in food design. Will the norm of what we identify as food be overtaken by edible abstracts that taste good but are culinary outliers among food design? Pastas and desserts are two exceptional foods without a rigid norm, which make them perfectly palatable to printable 3D food design. Since culinary presentations of each don’t require adhering to a norm, there is plenty room for new designs that will surely stimulate the appetite.
If 3D food printers can output common food sustenance such as poultry, beef, veggies, seafood, and etc. it would only be a matter of what printed form such would be appealing to eat. A 3D food cuisine may be visually appealing and a replica of the norm but would it be acceptable for it to taste different than it looks? How would one react to biting into what looks like a T-bone steak but it tastes like toasted beef flavored bean bread pie with edible bones? It would certainly convince one’s lunch companions that one has K9 teeth and a beastly appetite. That being the case, humor might be the selling point.
As the production designer for 3D-Cuisines.com, I wonder how our high detailed low poly 3D food models might play a part in 3D food printing design. 3D-Cuisines were established to fill a void in realistically looking prepared ready to eat 3D cuisines. Applications include props for architectural interior dining design and 3D food graphics. The following is a 3D-Cuisines interior dining animation.
The question is how could international 3D-Cuisines find a place in 3D food printing design? It’s not enough to have achieved a high level of visual detail based on polygon structure and UV texture maps. Porting 3D-Cuisines food models over to 3D printing would require identifying segments of the models for specific palatable flavors and focus on the surface design to maintain the look of the real thing.
As far as meeting the requirement for realistic looking, 3D-Cuisines provide the visual support for food related 3D applications. As for being made into edible 3D printed food, it depends on the ingenuity of 3D food printing designers and the flexibility of 3D food printing technology. Artists who honed their skills before the advent of computer graphics design can remember how computer technology threatened to eradicate the use of drawing boards and art supplies. In this case, many of the artistic purists have survived as a special class of artists. I wonder how chefs are feeling about the growing popularity of 3D food printers. At some point, will there be a food fight between computer based food techs and kitchen based food chefs? A more suitable outcome would be that culinary chefs become the leaders of maintaining the nutritional and appearance values of food even if 3D printed.
