The road to innovation is not smooth. It’s certainly not straight. And sometimes it takes you down to nooks that are downright weird.
Researchers at Ohio State University have come up with a device that can enable people to taste food remotely. Yes, I know, no one, absolutely no one asked for this stuff to be built. But innovators follow their hearts – or in this case their taste buds.
In their abstract, the researchers note that VR and AR technologies are bringing the virtual and real worlds together. However, not enough progress is being made to replicate taste in the virtual world, they say with what I presume is a very real frown.
Their solution: “a bio-integrated gustatory interface, “e-Taste,” to address the underrepresented chemical dimension in current VR/AR technologies.”
The device comprises a sensor, which is inserted into food. The flavour information is captured and transmitted to a bunch of flavour packets that dangle from your mouth. Based on the flavour being captured, the packets release the relevant flavour mixes into your mouth via tiny tubes.
The device uses chemicals to simulate the five basic tastes that our tongue is able to perceive: sodium chloride (salty), citric acid (sour), glucose (sweet), magnesium chloride (bitter) and glutamate (umami).
“Why, you might ask, would you want to taste someone else’s fish soup?” wondered the New York Times. One of the researchers, Yizhen Jia, responded by pointing out “that it’s commonplace to be able to see and hear what’s going on far away. Why not be able to taste it? Or maybe you’d like to taste recipes in a cookbook before you commit to making them. Maybe someday there might be a button on online grocery shopping services so you could virtually taste test different hot sauces before buying them.”
Erm, cool?
But to achieve this the researchers will have to find a way to replicate aromas virtually as well, since our olfactory senses (the sense of smell) play an important role in what we perceive as flavour. (Though not as vital a role as previously assumed.) And then there’s texture, which is also crucial to how we experience the food we eat. The researchers are aware they have a long way to go. “Everything has to come together for you to say, ‘This is good coffee,’” Jia told the New York Time, “A drop of chemicals on your tongue is going to feel different.”
But the biggest improvement the researchers need to make is the interface. Dangling flavour packets from the mouth somehow makes me think of walruses – or characters out of Star Wars. Because when it comes to food, presentation is everything.