The Food Printer: MIT Takes the Cooking out of Cooking

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College students, bachelors, and those who swear by Cup Noodles rejoice: MIT grad students Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran are currently working on a new appliance that would completely change the way we cook, namely by eliminating pots, pans, mixers, and even food. Discussed on Treehugger, the Cornucopia, or "food printer," does not require any actual food ingredients; instead:

Cornucopia's cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user's favorite ingredients. These are piped into a mixer and extruder head that can accurately deposit elaborate combinations of food. While the deposition takes place, the food is heated or cooled by Cornucopia's chamber or the heating and cooling tubes located on the printing head.

The food canisters, which resemble little martini shakers, will even be able to automatically order new supplies when they run out and make alternate ingredient suggestions. We've mentioned the absurdly high levels of wasted food before and the Cornucopia, if successful, could potentially decrease that number. It seems a bit far-fetched-and somewhat antithetical to the slow philosophy-but anything that keeps me from undercooking pasta or burning yet another chicken (or, more importantly, that could lead to solutions for world hunger) seems worth pursuing. The non-cookers of the world salute you Marcelo and Amit, keep at it.Photo via MIT Fluid Interface Group