It sounds like science fiction, yet it is already reality: it is possible to create and recreate gastronomic recipes remotely, thanks to a three-dimensional printer which, aimed at processing food, is supplied with the ingredients to make the dishes for which it has received the recipe via file. The dishes, which are made with fresh products, are completely edible and capable of reproducing the flavor of the original recipe. It happened in Barcelona where a Spanish company, Natural Machines, developed Foodini, a machine capable of three-dimensional "printing" of food and wanted to try their hand at one of the best-known Italian desserts in the world, Tiramisu. For this they called Francesco Redi (organizer of the Tiramisù World Cup) who went to Barcelona to supervise the operation.
And a Tiramisu came out of the machine with all the trappings, the right doses and the right flavour. «Purists could remain at least "sceptical" in the face of this new technology - observes Redi - but the reality is that 3D printing of food is a new appliance in the kitchen: it is spreading more and more and it is a phenomenon to keep an eye on We are proud that our reality in Treviso has been called upon to establish the criteria and perfect the functioning to recreate the best Tiramisu, using Foodini: those same criteria which are the same ones that the judges of the Tiramisu World Cup must follow to evaluate the desserts prepared by our competitors during the races all these years».
You can make dishes with fresh products, with the flavor of the original recipe.
«Who better than the Tiramisù World Cup team could have helped us to create the original Italian Tiramisù, with a preparation with a modern touch, that is, with a 3D food printer? – states Emilio Sepulveda, CEO of Natural Machines for his part – Foodini is used in the kitchen in the same way as a whisk is used to mix sugar and egg yolks or any other appliance. You can print traditional shapes, modern presentations, or even variations that would be difficult or impossible to create by hand. Foodini is a tool not only to help create great tasting foods, but also to help people be even more creative in the kitchen».
Natural Machines initiated the use of 3D printing in several industries, allowing companies to bring their consumers closer together, providing them with customized products upon request. The solutions created for the end customer are tailor-made for each individual. Natural Machin is attentive to sustainable progress, for responsible production and consumption, as per objective n.12 established by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda.
The project called “3DPrinted Tiramisu” was funded by AMable (www.amable.eu) and by the consortium coordinated by Fraunhofer ILT (https://www.ilt.fraunhofer.de/) by receiving funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement no. 768775.
For the Tiramisù World Cup, the competition organized since 2017 by Twissen, this is an important recognition, which places Treviso as a cultural (and not only) reference point for the most famous Italian dessert in the world: «I like to think that many chefs are already thinking about how to take advantage of this new technology that will allow their gastronomic creations to reach far beyond their current commercial network», concluded Redi.
