Printing Food
Abstract
This paper examines the possible applications of food as a raw
material in freeform fabrication, and provides several demonstrations of
edible three-dimensional objects. The use of edible materials offers several
advantages: First, it opens the door to the application of SFF technology in
custom food industry, such as manufacturing of complex confections with
specialized geometries and intricate material compositions. For
pedagogical purposes, edible materials provide an easily accessible, nontoxic and low cost way to experiment with rapid prototyping techniques
using educational systems such as Fab@Home. For more traditional SFF
technologies, food materials with appropriate rheological properties can
serve as sacrificial, bio-degradable, bio-compatible or recyclable materials
for structural support and draft-printing. We have used the Fab@Home
personal fabrication system to produce multi-material edible 3D objects
with cake frosting, chocolate, processed cheese, and peanut butter. These
are just indicative of the range of potential edible materials and
applications.