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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Mike Snider | USA Today

Is 3D printing the future of food? If you like cheesecake, things are already cooking

Columbia University
A blue laser broils the top layer of graham cracker from a seven-ingredient 3D printed dessert. (Jonathan Blutinger/Columbia Engineering)

The Star Trek food replicator it’s not. But researchers at Columbia University in New York have created a 3D printer that makes cheesecake.

Mechanical engineers in the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University have been experimenting with 3D-printed food (“food printers”) and laser cooking of food since 2005. The Department of Defense has been working to develop 3D-printed MREs (Meals Ready-to Eat) that in the future could be paired with wearable sensors to meet soldiers’ nutritional needs that day. NASA has also been experimenting with 3D-printed food for astronauts on long missions.

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