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A Meiji University student takes the taste test
Photo: KIM KYUNG-HOON / REUTERS
If you previously thought that science and research were dry topics, you should now revise your opinion at the latest.
Just check out how much fun Homei Miyashita is having at his job.
In a short video, the professor at the Japanese Meiji University laughingly presents a project that he developed together with students: a screen that can imitate the taste of food if you lick it off.
After attempts to equip TV sets with olfactory functions, which failed years ago, the prototype now on display is intended to be a further step on the way to a multi-sensory television experience.
The device called "Taste the TV" (TTTV) uses a carousel with ten containers that contain different flavors.
Depending on how these flavors are combined, they should be able to mimic the taste of different foods.
The taste test produced in this way then rolls on a slide across a flat television screen so that the viewer can try it.
In the Covid-19 era, his technology could improve the way people connect and interact with the outside world, enthuses Miyashita. "The goal is to give people the experience of eating in a restaurant on the other side of the world, even if they stay home," he said. Miyashita sees distance learning for sommeliers and chefs as well as quiz games as further possible applications.
Miyashita works with a team of around 30 students who have already developed a number of taste-related devices, including a fork that enhances the flavor of food.
You could say an item of cutlery that has become sodium glutamate.
He built the TTTV prototype himself last year, says the professor.
He estimates that it would cost around 100,000 yen to produce a commercial version.
"Sweet as Chocolate Sauce"
Miyashita says he has already had discussions with several companies about how they could use their spray technology to apply the taste of pizza or chocolate to a slice of toasted bread, for example.
In addition, the Japanese wants to develop an Internet platform whose users can download and try out taste samples from all over the world, a kind of iTunes for flavors.
A student from Miyashita demonstrated how TTTV works to reporters from Reuters News Agency by telling the device that she wanted to taste chocolate.
It took several attempts before the experiment worked and the aroma nozzles sprayed a sample onto the screen.
But the attempt was evidently successful: "It's a kind of milk chocolate," said the student.
"It's sweet as chocolate sauce."
mak / Reuters