ROMA, Italy -- The food of the future will be extruded from a 3D-printer, and it will taste good. We already know that food can be 3D printed in many shapes, as the Foodini project or NASA's plan to 3D print food in space shows up. It is a matter of technology and creativity, a new way to challenge the idea of how we cook and eat our lunch.

You can have a taste of 3D-printed food at The Innovation Week and Maker Faire Rome, the event about innovation and creativity that will take place in Rome from October 3 to 5. More than 500 projects will be featured in a huge exhibition in Auditorium Parco della Musica, including the 3D fruit printer developed by Dovetailed, a design studio and innovation based in the United Kingdom.

The 3D fruit printer looks like a regular 3D-printer, but its printing material is made of fruit-flavored juice that reacts with calcium alginate to form soft, sticky droplets. This technique is called spherification, and combines droplets with various flavors into a new shape, thus creating new artificial fruit.

As Gabriel Villar, chief inventor at Dovetailed, said “the taste, texture, size and shape of the fruit can all be customized”. Moreover, new 3D food printers could be used in polar or space stations, enabling people to create quality food – you can even use organic ingredients – and reduce waste.

At Maker Faire Rome, you can meet with Lynette Kucsma, chief marketing officer and co-founder of Natural Machines, the startup behind Foodini 3D food printer and Anjan Contractor, mechanical engineer and founder of Systems & Materials Research Corporation (SMRC), the company awarded with a 125,000 dollar NASA grant to develop 3D food printing solutions in space.


The way we manage our food will change soon: there will be many different elements of innovation: low-waste production, sustainable distribution and – of course – a 3D-printer in every household, restaurant and bar. Please visit http://www.makerfairerome.eu/en/future-3d-printed-food-mf... for details.