12 ms·

How 3D printing is shaking up high end dining

65 points by ximeng 11y ago

chiph 11y ago
Not even high-end dining -- imagine the possibilities for wedding halls, where they could produce chocolates printed in the bride & grooms names for everyone. Or bread rolls in the shape of wedding bells. Line up 4 or 5 printers and have a junior pastry chef running them.
runholm 11y ago
I am pretty disappointed in the printer shown in the clip. All the designs are really just a single layer. These 2D designs could certainly be made by a skilled hand without much effort. The "impossible" designs from future 3D-printers will probably be cool, but the technology appears to not quite be there yet.
- jofer 11y ago
  There's a limit to how high you can pile a narrow line of a puree. Mashed potatoes will probably do a bit better, but you're still not going to get any "true" 3D design out of something that isn't solid. There's also the time factor. Printing out a single layer of a sauce/puree in a fancy pattern is a lot faster than making a complex multi-layered shape. At any rate, there are certainly 3D desserts and showpieces, and there have been for awhile. The neat part of this is that it's being used for more than just sugar and chocolate.
anotheryou 11y ago
haha, trying to make something look organic by using a machine, which in the end makes it look like it's made with a cookie cutter. I'm sure you could do much more interesting things with a food printer, like: - actual structures with chocolate or sugar - designs that would be to tedious to do by hand (I'd recommend using paths, not shapes to be filled as input data) - semi-mixed flavors or flavor gradients - print on to soup - print from higher above, letting things fall organically - dithered gradients on the plate - play with speed to thin things out organically
- clarkmoody 11y ago
  > - actual structures with chocolate or sugar Sugar Eiffel Tower dessert would be awesome! But then again, there are plenty of mass-produced items that are identical, intricate, and perfect. Part of the lure of gourmet is the hand-crafted dish unique to me. I'm glad to see experimentation in gastronomy. Ultimately, the consumer will decide what techniques take hold for the long run.
jordache 11y ago
can it print a couple drops of some broth in the middle of the plate and called it a dish? Maybe print a fake leaf as garnish on the side? Michelin rating for sure
diego_moita 11y ago
50 years ago marketers and pundits predicted that today everybody would be eating what was, back then, "astronaut food": pills with nutrients and/or lyophilized (freeze-dried) food. Today the strongest marketing trends in food are fresh, organic, local and seasonal. No, 3d will not make a food revolution.
- Zikes 11y ago
  "High end dining", as in food that is deliberately overcomplicated and ridiculously high priced. This article has nothing to do with the average dinner table.
  - photoJ 11y ago
    And ridiculously delicious!
- BurningFrog 11y ago
  Since prediction A was wrong, logically, prediction B must also be wrong.
  - vacri 11y ago
    Well, first, it's an opinion, not a mathematical proof. And secondly, just because you can't see the link between the two doesn't mean there's no link. Perhaps put it this way: 50 years ago, some people thought that highly processed foods were the quality food of the future. Over time it became apparent that quality food was considered to be 'back-to-basics', original and fresh stuff. Now there is a new trend of highly processing food that some think will be the quality food of the future. Of course 3D printing food won't be anything more than a toy. It requires expensive equipment with a lot of maintenance, specific training, and can only be used with a limited subsection of foods (basically anything you can put into a piping bag, which also has to be stiff enough to support it's own weight). The idea of this spreading to the massed public is just ludicrous; who is going to be making the family dinner with a 3D printer? And keep on doing that regularly, once the novelty wears off? A toy for high-end restaurants does not a food revolution make.
ape4 11y ago
Coming soon to low end dining.
- majewsky 11y ago
  How long until the McDécor? :)
IvyMike 11y ago
An early example of 3d sugar printing, from Evil Mad Scientist Labs: http://candyfab.org/ http://candyfab.org/ And a higher-end example, including some really stunning pieces: http://www.3dsystems.com/culinary http://www.3dsystems.com/culinary
- joezydeco 11y ago
  The 3DSystems stuff is really nice, plus they have Hershey helping them out. I saw them at the National Restaurant Show, but this video was shot around the same time, same booth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbFYZTrpM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbFYZTrpM4
dpflan 11y ago
I think here that what would be more interesting uses of 3D printing with food is not to create nice geometries with semi-solid foods but to create layers of flavor that are not achievable without machine assistance. The plating of a dish is nice, but flavor really counts. Also, a lab at Cornell has done work on 3D printing food: http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/node/194 http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/node/194 And of course NASA is exploring 3D printing food in space: http://www.3dprintingprogress.com/articles/9147/3d-printing-food-in-space http://www.3dprintingprogress.com/articles/9147/3d-printing-...
- mc32 11y ago
  It looks to be one of those trends which at fist is dazzling but then gets overused and people grow tired of it and go back to emphasizing other aspects. The current climate is such that presentation rules over all else. It needs to look good in Instagram. Flavor is taking a back seat. There was a restaurant which was going against this trend, but, unfortunately also in a trendy way. They'd serve you dinner in near darkness. But of course the food wasn't normal food, they had to reel people in with unusual foods to make the experience more "memorable".
  - dpflan 11y ago
    I suspect that focusing on flavor and presentation are not mutually exclusive so I would think it would be easy to maintain novelty of presentation with a new creative vehicles for flavor which requires 3D printing.
    - mc32 11y ago
      To me a focus on presentation can be too gimmicky. And it's not only visual presentation but the at times silly introduction of the food, as if introducing me to one of their long time human friends. It's a bit nuts. Just make good food.
- wmeredith 11y ago
  > The plating of a dish is nice, but flavor really counts. Perception has been shown over and over to have dramatic influences on flavor: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/the-perception-wine https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/th... Presentation is often seen as important as composition in culinary circles, and for good reason.
xlayn 11y ago
It's always interesting to see the reasons behind food and the relation to the status classes. I remember reading how in the Renaissance Madonnas had a high BMI (sorry for the use of BMI, I'm not sure if "little fat" it's an adequate way of describing them) because food were scarce and then being fat was a way of portraying wealth, see for reference the Mona Lisa or other Da Vinci paintings. In modern times, healthy food is the new "wealth food" because it's more expensive due to several factors including but not limited to body preference for fats and sugars for historical and evolutionary reasons and how this has been exploited by the industry (e.g. fast food). With that said when I hear "High End Dining" I think about a breast of chicken complemented with food intended to have a delicious tasting AND healthy.... not "this looks nice on photos" food.
Davetron 11y ago
The future work of getting it to cook the ingredients sounds interesting. "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
vlunkr 11y ago
I didn't need any more reason to think that high end dining is silly, but now I have it.
thecodemonkey 11y ago
This is super awesome! I'm a little bit disappointed with the examples from the company behind the product though[1] Many of these could probably just have been made with a cookie cutter or a pastry bag. I could imagine the the big issue with supporting all types of materials is the wild inconsistencies in viscosity for the different types of food. [1] https://www.naturalmachines.com/ https://www.naturalmachines.com/
bpicolo 11y ago
"shaking up" is a pretty generous term here
Htsthbjig 11y ago
I don't believe this is shaking up anything. What this person is doing(I know personally the guy, I was born in Spain) 2D presentations(plotters) has been done by cookers manually for decades. IMHO 3d printers are going to be very important in the future,but not in their current form. I volunteer teaching kids 3d printing and engineering not because the present but because of the evolution of it in 10 or 15 years. Like it was essential to me to have an assembler or compiler when I was young in order to own a computer company or control machines as an adult, being raised with 3d printing is going to be essential for owning the robotics and technology space of the future(DNA manipulation).

65 points by ximeng 11y ago

chiph 11y ago

Not even high-end dining -- imagine the possibilities for wedding halls, where they could produce chocolates printed in the bride & grooms names for everyone. Or bread rolls in the shape of wedding bells. Line up 4 or 5 printers and have a junior pastry chef running them.

runholm 11y ago

I am pretty disappointed in the printer shown in the clip. All the designs are really just a single layer. These 2D designs could certainly be made by a skilled hand without much effort. The "impossible" designs from future 3D-printers will probably be cool, but the technology appears to not quite be there yet.

jofer 11y ago
There's a limit to how high you can pile a narrow line of a puree. Mashed potatoes will probably do a bit better, but you're still not going to get any "true" 3D design out of something that isn't solid. There's also the time factor. Printing out a single layer of a sauce/puree in a fancy pattern is a lot faster than making a complex multi-layered shape. At any rate, there are certainly 3D desserts and showpieces, and there have been for awhile. The neat part of this is that it's being used for more than just sugar and chocolate.

anotheryou 11y ago

haha, trying to make something look organic by using a machine, which in the end makes it look like it's made with a cookie cutter. I'm sure you could do much more interesting things with a food printer, like: - actual structures with chocolate or sugar - designs that would be to tedious to do by hand (I'd recommend using paths, not shapes to be filled as input data) - semi-mixed flavors or flavor gradients - print on to soup - print from higher above, letting things fall organically - dithered gradients on the plate - play with speed to thin things out organically

clarkmoody 11y ago
> - actual structures with chocolate or sugar Sugar Eiffel Tower dessert would be awesome! But then again, there are plenty of mass-produced items that are identical, intricate, and perfect. Part of the lure of gourmet is the hand-crafted dish unique to me. I'm glad to see experimentation in gastronomy. Ultimately, the consumer will decide what techniques take hold for the long run.

jordache 11y ago

can it print a couple drops of some broth in the middle of the plate and called it a dish? Maybe print a fake leaf as garnish on the side? Michelin rating for sure

diego_moita 11y ago

50 years ago marketers and pundits predicted that today everybody would be eating what was, back then, "astronaut food": pills with nutrients and/or lyophilized (freeze-dried) food. Today the strongest marketing trends in food are fresh, organic, local and seasonal. No, 3d will not make a food revolution.

Zikes 11y ago
"High end dining", as in food that is deliberately overcomplicated and ridiculously high priced. This article has nothing to do with the average dinner table.
- photoJ 11y ago
  And ridiculously delicious!
BurningFrog 11y ago
Since prediction A was wrong, logically, prediction B must also be wrong.
- vacri 11y ago
  Well, first, it's an opinion, not a mathematical proof. And secondly, just because you can't see the link between the two doesn't mean there's no link. Perhaps put it this way: 50 years ago, some people thought that highly processed foods were the quality food of the future. Over time it became apparent that quality food was considered to be 'back-to-basics', original and fresh stuff. Now there is a new trend of highly processing food that some think will be the quality food of the future. Of course 3D printing food won't be anything more than a toy. It requires expensive equipment with a lot of maintenance, specific training, and can only be used with a limited subsection of foods (basically anything you can put into a piping bag, which also has to be stiff enough to support it's own weight). The idea of this spreading to the massed public is just ludicrous; who is going to be making the family dinner with a 3D printer? And keep on doing that regularly, once the novelty wears off? A toy for high-end restaurants does not a food revolution make.

ape4 11y ago

Coming soon to low end dining.

majewsky 11y ago
How long until the McDécor? :)

IvyMike 11y ago

An early example of 3d sugar printing, from Evil Mad Scientist Labs: http://candyfab.org/ http://candyfab.org/ And a higher-end example, including some really stunning pieces: http://www.3dsystems.com/culinary http://www.3dsystems.com/culinary

joezydeco 11y ago
The 3DSystems stuff is really nice, plus they have Hershey helping them out. I saw them at the National Restaurant Show, but this video was shot around the same time, same booth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbFYZTrpM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbFYZTrpM4

dpflan 11y ago

I think here that what would be more interesting uses of 3D printing with food is not to create nice geometries with semi-solid foods but to create layers of flavor that are not achievable without machine assistance. The plating of a dish is nice, but flavor really counts. Also, a lab at Cornell has done work on 3D printing food: http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/node/194 http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/node/194 And of course NASA is exploring 3D printing food in space: http://www.3dprintingprogress.com/articles/9147/3d-printing-food-in-space http://www.3dprintingprogress.com/articles/9147/3d-printing-...

mc32 11y ago
It looks to be one of those trends which at fist is dazzling but then gets overused and people grow tired of it and go back to emphasizing other aspects. The current climate is such that presentation rules over all else. It needs to look good in Instagram. Flavor is taking a back seat. There was a restaurant which was going against this trend, but, unfortunately also in a trendy way. They'd serve you dinner in near darkness. But of course the food wasn't normal food, they had to reel people in with unusual foods to make the experience more "memorable".
- dpflan 11y ago
  I suspect that focusing on flavor and presentation are not mutually exclusive so I would think it would be easy to maintain novelty of presentation with a new creative vehicles for flavor which requires 3D printing.
  - mc32 11y ago
    To me a focus on presentation can be too gimmicky. And it's not only visual presentation but the at times silly introduction of the food, as if introducing me to one of their long time human friends. It's a bit nuts. Just make good food.
wmeredith 11y ago
> The plating of a dish is nice, but flavor really counts. Perception has been shown over and over to have dramatic influences on flavor: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/the-perception-wine https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201402/th... Presentation is often seen as important as composition in culinary circles, and for good reason.

xlayn 11y ago

It's always interesting to see the reasons behind food and the relation to the status classes. I remember reading how in the Renaissance Madonnas had a high BMI (sorry for the use of BMI, I'm not sure if "little fat" it's an adequate way of describing them) because food were scarce and then being fat was a way of portraying wealth, see for reference the Mona Lisa or other Da Vinci paintings. In modern times, healthy food is the new "wealth food" because it's more expensive due to several factors including but not limited to body preference for fats and sugars for historical and evolutionary reasons and how this has been exploited by the industry (e.g. fast food). With that said when I hear "High End Dining" I think about a breast of chicken complemented with food intended to have a delicious tasting AND healthy.... not "this looks nice on photos" food.

Davetron 11y ago

The future work of getting it to cook the ingredients sounds interesting. "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

vlunkr 11y ago

I didn't need any more reason to think that high end dining is silly, but now I have it.

thecodemonkey 11y ago

This is super awesome! I'm a little bit disappointed with the examples from the company behind the product though[1] Many of these could probably just have been made with a cookie cutter or a pastry bag. I could imagine the the big issue with supporting all types of materials is the wild inconsistencies in viscosity for the different types of food. [1] https://www.naturalmachines.com/ https://www.naturalmachines.com/

bpicolo 11y ago

"shaking up" is a pretty generous term here

Htsthbjig 11y ago

I don't believe this is shaking up anything. What this person is doing(I know personally the guy, I was born in Spain) 2D presentations(plotters) has been done by cookers manually for decades. IMHO 3d printers are going to be very important in the future,but not in their current form. I volunteer teaching kids 3d printing and engineering not because the present but because of the evolution of it in 10 or 15 years. Like it was essential to me to have an assembler or compiler when I was young in order to own a computer company or control machines as an adult, being raised with 3d printing is going to be essential for owning the robotics and technology space of the future(DNA manipulation).