Foodini Food Printer

Take a look at the bowl of spaghetti below. Looks pretty appetizing, doesn't it? 3D printing, a process once reserved for highly customized artificial limbs and processed Oreos, can now be used to craft fresh pasta like the kind you see here.

In fact, these noodles were printed by the Foodini, a new type of 3D printer that uses fresh ingredients instead of prefilled food capsules like existing food printers. We're one step closer to Star Trek's food replicator, you guys.

Foodini's Kickstarter campaign just launched with a $100,000 goal and 27 days to go. Early backers can get the printer for as little as $999, and once that pledge level runs out, pledgers can purchase the Foodini for $1,200.

Lynette Kucsma, cofounder of the company behind the Foodini, thinks that most people are too busy to make their own healthy snacks and meals and hopes that the printer will revolutionize the kitchen in the same way that microwaves did. After all, presentation is superimportant — especially when it comes to getting kids to eat their vegetables. With Foodini, home cooks can thumb through a menu on a touchscreen, tap their choice, fill food capsules, and watch meals materialize before their eyes.

Like a regular 3D printer, the Foodini can create nearly any shape you can imagine. The quiche spinach dinosaurs below are just one option — the printer has also made intricate spiderweb chestnut cookies and swirly sweet potato apple hashbrowns.

Even though Foodini's founder wants to save cooks time with her 3D food printer, you'll still have to do the heavy lifting. You'll need to go to a grocery store, choose the produce, then prepare food for the capsules, which may mean boiling down vegetables or mixing dough ingredients.

The company is also releasing a website, tablet, and phone app that will serve as a hub for all Foodini recipes, which users can download and use on their own printers. This site will be accessible on Foodini's 7-inch, Android-powered touchscreen as well, accessible via WiFi. Up to five capsules can be loaded into the Foodini at one time and print as much food as will fit on a 10.2-inch rotating glass dish.

Curious? Learn more about the current status of the Foodini on its Kickstarter page. Printers will ship as early as October.

Source: Natural Machines