The 3D printed steak; a new way of eating meat?

What if you could eat a 3D printed steak ? This seems surprising, but that is just what the Italian researcher Giusseppe Scionti of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona has proposed. He developed a project and modified a 3D fused deposition modeling printer to make various vegetable meat steaks. The goal is to imitate the appearance and texture of real steak or chicken to end the exploitation of animals. A dish that is apparently unappetising. However it offers an interesting alternative at a time when vegetarianism is gaining momentum.

While we were working on the development of 3D printed menus in the canteen of a primary school not long back, we are now discovering another application of 3D priniting in food. Namely the production of 3D printed meat, or more accurately a dish that mimics the appearance of a piece of steak.

Giusseppe Scionti and his 3D printer

Giusseppe Scionti’s 3D printed steak is made of rice, peas and seaweed. From these ingredients, the researcher was able to create a reddish paste with a texture similar to that of red meat. Although the aesthetics of the final product remains to be improved, the final goal is clear. To put an end to the exploitation of animals.