https://techxplore.com/news/2022-06-sea ... roach.html
by Alberto Peña
Food engineering student Alonso Vasquez cuts cochayuyo seaweed to process it before putting it into a 3D printer at the lab of Chile's University in Santiago, on June 17, 2022.
Some dehydrated "cochayuyo" seaweed, some instant mashed potatoes and hot water: these are the ingredients for a nutritious menu of 3D printed food that nutritional experts in Chile hope will revolutionize the food market, particularly for children.
With a 3D food printer and a modern twist on the traditional use of cochayuyo, an algae typically found in Chile, New Zealand and the South Atlantic, Roberto Lemus, a professor at the University of Chile and several students, have managed to create nutritious and edible figures that they hope kids will love to eat.
Pokemon figures, or any type of animal imaginable, are all fed into the 3D printer, together with the gelatinous mixture, and the food is "printed" out seven minutes later.
"We looking for different figures, fun figures...visual, colors, taste, flavors, smells," Lemus told AFP.
But, he stressed, the main focus is on nutritional content. "The product has to be highly nutritious for people, but it also has to be tasty," he said.