Food Fab

That's fab as in fabrication, not fab as in AB-solutely FAB. Or maybe it's both?

Salon has an interesting piece up about a concept food fabrication machine called the Cornucopia that is the idea of two MIT grad students. Basically, it uses tubes of ingredients that it can heat, cool, and otherwise manipulate into meals using a program.

It all seems very interesting, but I think in reality the best that this technology will achieve is being the centerpiece of a gimmick restaurant. Maybe I'm biased as a cook, but I think a machine will never replicate the experience of a meal well-cooked by a caring human. It still has to be programmed by a person and it seems cost-prohibitive into the foreseeable future. Plus it doesn't exist yet except in the minds of its creators. But maybe there's a place for this in a space station somewhere where some government or another can foot the bill?

For the mean time, you can build this DIY open-source CandyFab from Evil Mad Scientist and print yourself out some cool 3D sugar sculptures for just $500 and some precious spare time.