What They Say
Nikkei reports that Homei Miyashita of Meiji University, has a system using 10 cartridges to create a taste sample that is like certain foods. To reproduce basic flavours, it uses sodium chloride for saltiness, sucrose for sweetness, citric acid for acidity, quinine hydrochloride for bitterness, and sodium glutamate for umami. Cartridges are also filled with solutions to reproduce pungent and astringent tastes, as well as with alcohol.
The report said that tastes including fruit, pizza and chocolate had been replicated.
The idea is that the spray could be sprayed onto films on displays and licked to get the flavour of foods being cooked on the TV.
The researcher said that he expects that eventually people will sign up for subscriptions as they do for music and video and that you will be able to save flavours as data.
What We Think
I’ll avoid the obvious journalistic cliché of pointing out that many technology advances are enabled by the demand to support pornography. I’ve been reporting on ‘smellyvision’ for decades and still am no nearer to thinking that we get there any time soon, although supporters of this idea see the potential for creating foods using 3D printing and this kind of technology. (BR)
