Eating Virtual Food to Be Possible Soon, and It’ll Be Even Better

If you want to stuff your belly with the most delicious food without adding any extra weight, a new experiment recently conducted could be the answer from the divine. Sooner or later, humans will be able to taste and chew virtual food by using state-of-the-art technology. This indicates that exquisite textures and delicate flavors of food can be really experienced without having to stuff your mouth with any solids or liquids.

The new concept, called "simulated dining experience," will make going on a diet easier in the not so distant future. A researcher at the National University of Singapore has made a digital lollipop along with a spoon with electrodes that bring forth different tastes. Dr. Nimesh Ranasinghe's technology uses electrical simulation that results in the creation of flavors in a human mouth. The only area in which it proved to be unsuccessful was that it couldn't simulate sweetness.

Signals that produce the most important taste components like bitter, sour, sweet, and salty are transmitted using a silver electrode that touches the tip of the tongue. Taste receptors are tricked by an alternating current and minor changes in temperature that are regulated by semiconductor elements that heat and cool rapidly.

At the moment, the device is somewhat clunky, but when it gets redesigned, it can come in contact with the user's tongue even when the mouth is closed. Dr. Ramsinghe's experiment was presented in ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium (UIST) held in Tokyo this year.

Last year, a company based in Los Angeles had started an initiative into virtual food. Dubbed "Project Nourished" the technology uses virtual reality headsets and food aromas. This gives the user a sensation of gorging on delicious foods like steak and lasagne. The company's main objective is to help people suffering from food allergies or having conditions like diabetes have a fine dining experience without any worries.