FoodFab: Creating Food Perception Illusions using Food 3D Printing

Abstract

Food 3D printing enables the creation of customized food structures based on a person's individual needs. In this paper, we explore the use of food 3D printing to create perceptual illusions for controlling the level of perceived satiety given a defined amount of calories. We present FoodFab, a system that allows users to control their food intake through modifying a food's internal structure via two 3D printing parameters: infill pattern and infill density. In two experiments with a total of 30 participants, we studied the effect of these parameters on users' chewing time that is known to affect people's feeling of satiety. Our results show that we can indeed modify the chewing time by varying infill pattern and density, and thus control perceived satiety. Based on the results, we propose two computational models and integrate them into a user interface that simplifies the creation of personalized food structures.

Demonstration of FoodFab: Creating Food Perceptual Illusions using Food 3D Printing

“…Rather than digitally augmenting food, we showed how to use food 3D printing to physically integrate perceptual illusions. For more details regarding the user studies and computational models, please refer to [1].…”

Multisensory Experiences: A Primer

“…There are multiple examples of multisensory experiences in the context of MHFI that can further help to illustrate what they mean in HFI. Situated on the real end of the reality-virtuality continuum, FoodFab capitalizes on 3D printing to control parameters of the internal structure of foods (infill pattern and infill density) and, thus, influence chewing time and, in turn, satiety (Lin et al, 2020). In mixed reality, an example is MetaCookie, a system that augments a cookie's flavor by digitally overlapping colors and textures, as well as specific aromas, on a plain cookie (Narumi et al, 2011).…”

3d Food Printing With Improved Functional Properties: A Review

“…In addition, researchers found that using different infill patterns affect the infill densities and size of the printed food [63]. In cookie samples, lower infill densities required fewer ingredients and hence bigger sizes, whereas the cookies with the largest infill had the smallest size.…”

“…All the cookies included the same amount of ingredients and hence the same amount of calories. However, the bigger the cookies, the more time was required for the panel participants to chew and the more satiety that they perceived [63]. Therefore, playing with the 3D printing shape and patterns can help tackle obesity.…”

“…Therefore, playing with the 3D printing shape and patterns can help tackle obesity. Lin et al [63] developed a phone app where the consumer can choose their satiety level and play with the infill properties and size of the printed food. Last but not least, even though labeled to be among the "future food", the possibility of finding a 3D printer in every kitchen depends on one thing: "They need to become cheaper, faster, and easier to use" [62].…”