Futuristic Food

Chefs at a Chicago restaurant are using technology to change the way people perceive and eat food.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Orlick and Homaro Cantu No ordinary sushi: this sushi is made up of flavoured sheets printed out on an inkjet printer

Using ink-jet printers and lasers in the kitchen may seem like a futuristic vision but at Moto restaurant in Chicago, it's already a reality. Its chefs, who are also engineers, are transforming the traditional dining experience by using inventive technology to create their food and to provide diners with an interactive, multi-sensory experience. Tired of steak and a plate of vegetables? The philosophy of the restaurant is to push the boundaries of known taste, texture and technique and to change the way that people perceive and eat food.

The brain behind the restaurant is 29-year-old executive chef Homaro Cantu . Also a self-taught engineer and inventor, he has filed many patent applications for dining items, cookware and edible surfaces. He uses Moto as his laboratory and is trying to help gastronomy catch up to advancements in technology.

Stove-top or printer?

Perhaps Cantu's greatest innovation at Moto is a modified Canon i560 inkjet printer (which he calls the "food replicator" in homage to Star Trek) that prints flavoured images onto edible paper. The print cartridges are filled with food-based "inks", including juiced carrots, tomatoes and purple potatoes, and the paper tray contains sheets of soybean and potato starch. The printouts are flavoured by dipping them in a powder of dehydrated soy sauce, squash, sugar, vegetables or sour cream, and then they are frozen, baked or fried.