3D food - is the future a 'food synthesizer' as we enter the Big Data age?

Computerised food Jetson's style -

synth food could soon be a reality in the Big Data age

We now have the capacity for 3D printing in our houses which only 15 years or so ago was at the cutting edge of technology, only available at laboratory level.

We can replicate items from .dxf file drawings of just about anything, so what about the next stage, now we are in the 'Big Data' world? Food.

In the 1960's Star Trek era, this was the next big thing - automated food - 

From the genetic nuclear level

The 1960's being the race for space era, catapulted technological development much as WW2 had done a generation before. Technology for the space program was a key driver in the advancement of technology generally in that decade.

It's Paella Jim, but not as we know it - Star Trek TNG cuisine via a replicator -

we think the future and eventually it becomes so as so much from Star Trek has,

via technology reverse engineered from Roswell

NASA spearheaded space nutrition. To enable its astronauts to eat in zero gravity, it developed foods beyond the early MDF-like agglomeration of bits contained in a pill, to fully fledged food as we know it, adapted for space conditions.

The problems NASA faced on long missions was the storage of food, the lack of fresh food and indeed the growing of food to sustain personnel. Of course if you want it microwaved, just hang it on the outside of your space ship as you go through the Van Allen belt for 10 seconds and that should cook it.

Open Fridge - a new way of food management a 'smart fridge'- Fridge 2.0 -

this is the halfway stage towards the 'big one' - 3D food from scratch

Going forward since the space race of the 1960s, we are entering a realm where 'Big Data' is the new thing, actually, it will be part of a new 'thing' called global data, involving 'Proxy living' and 'Smart living' where all will be connected.

Future Data will be big business more so than it is today -

Data will drive everything we do and how we live

Our next generation of fridges are building on the use of data and algorithms, they will also capture data. Think of our fridge of tomorrow, it will scan what you put in to it, analyse what you used, didn't use and what went bad. This information is useful to the supermarket, food buyers and the producers.

This fridge will be Fridge 2.0, like Web 2.0, the Fridge of tomorrow will start with analysing your food use, then interfacing with your supermarket food open data from your supermarket card. Remember, this data is valuable, it is live, current and real. 

Your meals will be planned for you under Big Data and Proxy living

This device will analyse what you buy, what you consume and throw away. It will plan your meals based on what you buy, know what meals you do like and when Proxy Living comes, it will order your food shopping on your behalf (by proxy) and it will likely be delivered by automated vehicle. That's some way off, but you get the idea. But that's just part 1 of this.

Automated harvesting based on scanned produce picked at the peak of condition -

note no human involvement here

Food is now being harvested robotically in some places, it allows picking of peak ripeness produce, optimum shipment times and longer 'on the shelf' life in the supermarket. As a part of integrated big data, it is the future of food production.

Simple food can be 'built' by robots, such as this Burger -

even the waiter service is being robotised - scary?

Robotics and automation are now making in-roads into the fast food market and restaurant trade. Gone soon, may be the days of young people working in fast food outlets to make money for college. Yep, automated food preparation and waiting on table is coming and is already here in some places. So, where is this going next?

You want chips with that? Silicon ones? -

after robot chefs, what next?

The next logical step after robot chefs and smart fridges could be the really big one. If we go back to our space age, futuristic scenario, we will logically end up with at some stage, 3D food which could be cooking as you walk through your door.

3D food for space travel is one thing,

but this 'synth food' is only the MK1 of where 3D food is ultimately going

If we can 3D print items, then what we can we do with some base materials? We can produce simple 'MDF' agglomerated 'foods' such as biscuit type products. This is part 1 of a project that will synthesize food from a genetic basic structural level and take it to replica food as we know it.

This may be a lab version, but within a few years this could be the norm -

3D food originated from the genetic nuclear level

3D food is possible because when you pull it down, it is only data. Big data, but data. What I mean by this is that like the human genome that we have now sequences, food is no different, it is bits of this and that, lots of them and in proportions and shapes and sizes of the parts. All we do is replicate that data.

Sounds complicated?

Well, 40 years ago, if you said about a computer being able be part of  printing images in colour in your own home, that would have been said to be unlikely and expensive, if at all possible. We now have cheap printing at home, we also have cheap 3D printing at home, so the logical next step of food base materials being synthesized at home is viable. This may take 20 years but it could be a reality.

Real Steak Mince -

we already have lab produced meat of a sort

Producing intricate forms is no more than moulding in 3D -

theoretically these vegetables should be viable to produce

So, the reality could be that your food buying and cooking could be all done for you. Welcome to the future.