Future Forecast 3.) 3D Printed Food

sources:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/3d-food-printers-how-they-could-change-what-you-eat/#/5
http://www.qsrmagazine.com/competition/bright-future
http://www.3dsystems.com/es/chefjet
http://chocedge.com/
https://www.naturalmachines.com/

ANALYSIS:

     3D printing your food is slowly becoming a reality. Currently in existence are the 3D Systems ChefJet, Natural Foods' Choc Edge, and the Foodini. The ChefJet can crystalize fine grains of sugar into virtually any geometric shape, The Choc Edge can dispense chocolate into beautiful elaborate patterns, and the Foodini can use fresh ingredients to dispense raw doughs that can create partially made pizza, quiche, filled pasta, and brownies.

     German nursing homes have began serving a 3D printed food called "Smoothfoods" to feed to the elderly patients who have a difficult time chewing their food. This "Smoothfood" mixture of mashed carrots, peas, and broccoli, is an alternative to a much less appetizing puree that is usually served and often rejected by patients.

    3D printers could also make the unappetizing, become appetizing. For the most part, people are very conservative when it comes to food, and will only be willing to try something if it's similar to something that they have eaten in the past. For example, insects are something that not everyone would be open to eating in it's raw form, but it's an excellent source of protein. If 3D printers could use them as ingredients, people could be getting better nutrition from what they eat.

     3D food printers still have many obstacles to overcome, one of those being speed. The machines print out the food layer by layer, and need some ingredients to cool, creating excessive wait times for the food to be complete. Another issue is how complex the make up of some foods are. Most printers can create things with sugar, chocolate, and dough, but things are a lot tougher when it comes to complicated food products like meat. A survey found that only 34% of the respondents would be open to even trying 3D printed meat.

“When people first heard about microwaves they didn’t understand the technology, now 90 percent of households have microwaves.” - Lynette Kucsama

BULLET ANSWERS:

Impact

Globally, 3D printing foods could do a lot with reducing waste, and aiding people in countries where food is not very accessible to them or is out of their budget. Nationally, I could see 3D printing become a commodity, and turn into 3D printing specialty restaurants, etc. Personally, I'm not 100% for the idea of printing food yet. I don't know what the long term effects of eating food products created by this kind of technology, and that makes me very hesitant.

short term/long term

Short term, I believe that engineers will continue towards printing solutions for complex foods such as meat, and the amount of time that it takes for a meal to be printed.
Long term, I believe that 3D printing has the potential to find it's way into our homes as a permanent fixture, such as the microwave. Hopefully it will also widely be used for helping those in need. 

positive

3D printing could solve a lot of hunger issues, waste issues, and even just add a lot of convenience and art to cooking 

negative

No one knows the long term effects of eating 3D printed food, so they could potentially be very harmful to our bodies in the same sense that GMOs have an effect on us, or even radiation from technology

food tech/bio tech

QUESTIONS:

Would you feel safe eating 3D printed food?

If so, are there any foods that you wouldn't be willing to try?

Do you think that 3D food printers will become a kitchen appliance in the next 30 years?

WATER REVISITED 

     Revisiting the water forecast, I was very inspired by the people who work traditionally rather than digitally. I really enjoy seeing the drawings that come from Eric and Skylar, along with the paintings that Darren does. Another project that I really enjoyed was Lucy's album cover. I think that there's something cool about having to represent an artist and an album of songs through one piece of work.

     For my revisited project, I plan on taking a more painterly approach and making something that represents my topic in a more organic way rather than a factual and precise way.