Translator: Bob Prottas Reviewer: Camille Martínez
I'm here today to talk to you about 3D food printing.
If you Google "3D-printed food," photos of my work will show up on the first page.
I am internationally asked to give presentations about food printing,
and I'm even nominated for several awards.
But you know, the strange thing is,
that I never operated a single 3D food printer in my life.
And to make it even stranger,
I might be one of the most skeptical persons towards the printing of food.
I'm a food designer, a passionate cook,
and I'm highly fascinated about nature.
Today my whole life revolves around food,
around healthy eating, cooking, experimenting and reading about it.
I just love the bright colors, the way it grows and transforms,
the way it smells, and the endless taste combinations.
I think designing with food is one of the most intimate forms of design,
because people can actually eat design
and experience it through all of their senses.
But what interests me most as a food designer
is a combination between the aspects of food and science and technology.
Through my work, I show possible ways of using new technologies
to enhance our food system, instead of producing more fast food.
So I use technological and scientific knowledge to think of new ways
to make our food more efficient, healthy and sustainable.
And if you look around,
you'll see I'm not the only one who is so obsessed with food.
As a result of a continuously growing world population
and an increasing ecological footprint of man on earth,
many engineers, scientists, artists, designers and chefs are looking for
solutions to solve world food problems -
for example, the consumption of alternative animal proteins,
like algae or insects;
the development of new production methods, like growing crops vertically
under LED light with specific light recipes;
or as already mentioned, the development of new production techniques,
like 3D food printing.
And before I continue talking about 3D-printed food,
I would like to ask you something:
Who here thinks that more people worldwide
suffer from malnutrition than from obesity?
Well, it actually turns out that there are more people
suffering from obesity than from malnutrition,
and even though governments and food manufacturers know this as well,
these are a couple of examples of products
that are currently being produced by these food printers.
So whereas already too many people suffer from obesity
or can't afford fresh fruits or vegetables,
a lot of time, money and resources are invested in the development
of fancy-looking shapes of chocolate, dough and sugar.
And even NASA has invested a major amount of money
in the development of a 3D food-printing company
who's currently printing pizzas.
So is it just me, or do you also think that that's totally ridiculous?
(Laughter)
I truly believe that we can benefit from technology,
and that technology can actually solve world food problems and do something good.
But not if technology is merely used as a cool gadget to reshape
unhealthy processed foods into a fancy shape.
I came in contact with the world of food printing when I was asked
by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research
to think about an innovative 3D-printed food product.
They were going to present this product during an annual food pioneer event,
and at that time I was still an industrial design [student]
at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
I was both flattered and surprised
to be asked by such a well-known research institute to collaborate
with them on this food project.
To give a short explanation:
printing food is basically the building up of a product layer by layer,
by depositing a material
or by using a laser or liquids to fixate layers of powder.
So when I found out more about these different methods,
the products already produced and the added value,
I wasn't exactly impressed, and to be honest,
I was even kind of disappointed by the uselessness of the machines,
and the unhealthy products they are creating.
So I didn't want to spend my time on the development
of a new fancy-looking shape of chocolate or dough.
But instead, I decided to use the network of the research institute
to think about how we can use this technology in a more useful way.
So what I did is I combined high-tech production methods
with authentic practices of growing and breeding food.
Because I just told you about the different methods,
and the problem with these methods is that you need to mash up or grind
the food first, before you can process it.
And also additives - and in some cases even liquid nitrogen - are necessary
to successfully print these food products you just saw in the pictures.
So I figured the only possible way to produce food that is natural -
and in fact, also healthy - with these new technologies,
would be to start with the basic raw material,
and let nature take its course.
So that's what I did.
I designed a 3D-printed food concept called "Edible Growth,"
that uses the printer merely as a tool to facilitate and enhance the natural.
The printer will build up a growth-enabling structure,
like an edible ecosystem,
that will grow and transform at the consumer's house.
The basic idea is to print a carbohydrate support structure
with an edible breeding ground that contains seeds, spores and yeast.
The organisms will be separated from each other
by a membrane that prevents contamination,
but allows the seeds and spores to access the breeding ground.
So this whole product will be printed directly inside a recyclable greenhouse,
and you, as consumers, will take the recycleable greenhouse home,
and simply place it on your windowsill.
On your windowsill,
natural processes like photosynthesis or fermentation will start,
and the yeast will slowly transform
a solid core into a liquid,
while the seeds develop into sprouts, and the spores, into mushrooms.
Within the next couple of days,
the technical straight lines of the support structure
will be covered by these natural and organic-looking shapes
of the mushrooms and the sprouts.
And these changes in physical appearance show the development of the taste,
scent, structure and the entire eating experience of the product.
So as a consumer, you can decide when to harvest and eat your product.
You could decide to eat it on the third day,
or if you like a more intense taste,
you could harvest and eat the product on the fifth day.
It's like Roquefort cheese or wine,
that the intensity of the product will age over time.
So every day it will become a little bit stronger,
which you can also see on the development of the physical appearance.
So a product like Edible Growth will make it very easy
to go from eating microwave dishes
to growing and harvesting your own food at home.
And a product like Edible Growth will not only give you more insight
into your food production,
and also allow you to harvest your own food,
but it also has a lot of environmental benefits.
[Environmental benefits - Agricultural land - Water and energy]
[Food miles - Food waste - Absolute freshness - Consumer involvement]
[Pre-packaging and distribution - Financial and ecological benefits]
If the product grows and transforms at the consumer's house,
far less agricultural land and water are necessary to grow the product.
And also food miles will be reduced,
because the food doesn't have to travel from the farm to the distribution center,
from the distribution center to the store,
and from the store to your house.
And because the product will be printed on demand,
no food needs to be stored.
So that also means that no food can turn bad or expire.
So it will also reduce food waste.
Also pre-packaging and packaging will be unnecessary,
because the recyclable greenhouse can be used over and over again.
And these are just a couple of examples of how a product like Edible Growth
offers financial and ecological benefits.
At this point in the history of food printing,
Edible Growth is the first idea for healthy - and in fact, sustainable -
printed food products that actually add something
to solving the world food problem.
At this point, prototypes are traveling the world from expo to expo,
and the project receives a massive amount of media attention.
And it's all due to the fact that
it's the only healthy and sustainable 3D-printed food product.
And even though Edible Growth product is not ready for consumers yet,
because more research needs to be done on the material composition,
the software and the hardware,
it inspires a lot of scientists, artists, designers and also chemists
to look beyond what's currently possible
with 3D printing technologies for food production.
And within the next couple of months a German research company,
and also from a University - how is it called? -
and also from a German university, the professor and the PhD students
are going to first develop the material composition,
and afterwards they will look into the software and the hardware development.
So perhaps, within the next two years
it will be possible to eat a product like Edible Growth.
So my point is, that many people are very skeptical
towards the use of high-tech in food production.
They think the more artificial or the more technology,
the more artificial, the more sugar and the more additives the food contains.
But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
Because I think most of you forget that everything we eat
is actually designed by man.
Everything we eat is technology.
Farming is technology. Agriculture is also technology.
But we started to see these technologies as natural, as nature.
So perhaps the influence of these new high-tech production methods
doesn't have to be bad or unhealthy.
We should use these new technologies to our advantage
to create healthy, efficient and more sustainable food
to reduce the ecological footprint of man on earth.
Thank you.
(Applause)