Key Highlights:
- A Japanese professor has produced a prototype lickable TV screen that can replicate food flavors.
- Taste the TV (TTTV) is a gadget that employs a carousel of ten flavor canisters that spray in combination to replicate the flavor of a certain cuisine.
- Miyashita also wants to create a platform where consumers can download and experience tastes from all around the world, similar to how music is currently.
Starving for content
Another step toward developing a multi-sensory watching experience has been taken by a Japanese professor who has produced a prototype lickable TV screen that can replicate food flavors.
Researchers combined several meals and utilized sensors to “taste” them, according to a demonstration video. Chemicals are then sprayed in various combinations onto a rolling plastic sheet (or a disposable tray for those who don’t want to lick a plastic-covered screen) to replicate the flavor. The sheet is then rolled out over the display for you to lick those tasty chemicals, and then rolled away when you’re finished for simple disposal.
This type of technology, according to Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita, can improve people’s connections and interactions with the outside world in the COVID-19 period.
“The idea is to allow consumers to enjoy the experience of eating at a restaurant on the other side of the planet while staying at home,” he added.
TTTV: The rise of flavored gadgets
Miyashita leads a group of roughly 30 students who have created a number of flavor-related gadgets, including a fork that enhances the flavor of food. He claimed he created the TTTV prototype over the course of a year and that a commercial version would cost around 100,000 yen ($875) to produce.
Distance learning for sommeliers and cooks, as well as tasting games and quizzes, are all possibilities, he added.
Miyashita has also been in negotiations with businesses about employing his spray technology in applications such as a gadget that can impart a pizza or chocolate flavor to toasted bread slices.
He also wants to create a platform where consumers can download and experience tastes from all around the world, similar to how music is currently.
For reporters, one Meiji student exhibited TTTV by saying she wanted to taste delicious chocolate on the screen. An automated voice repeated the instruction after a few tries, and flavor jets sprayed a sample onto a plastic sheet.
“It tastes like milk chocolate,” she explained. “It has a chocolate sauce-like sweetness to it.”
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