Print Your Own Lunch

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Print Your Own Lunch Is 3D Food Printing the Future of Cooking? 3D Read the text below and do the activity that follows.

Lunchtime in the office. Perhaps you've brought some of last night's leftover stir-fry from home, or some takeaway dumplings from a stall. Or perhaps you're sitting around the printer with your colleagues, waiting for it to produce some tasty sushi Sushi from a printer? It might sound far-fetched, but scientists in the field of 3D printing are working on technology that allows you to 'print' real, edible food. The team from Cornell University in the US hope their machine will one day be as commonplace as the microwave oven or blender. So how does it work? Instead of having cartridges filled with various coloured inks, the 3D food printer has rows of syringes filled with different ingredients. It then deposits these food inks line by line, and layer by layer, according to the electronic recipe, until the finished product is made. So far the team have made biscuits, cakes and even a scallop-based snack in the form of a space shuttle. Chef Homaro Cantu, who has printed sushi using an inkjet printer, thinks the technology could also be good for the environment. "Imagine being able to essentially 'grow', 'cook' or prepare foods without the negative industrial impact - everything from fertilisers to saut pans and even packaging. The production chain requirements for food would nearly be eliminated." He believes that the technology could revolutionise the way we eat, and even bring people closer together. "3D printing will do for food what e-mail and instant messaging did for communication," says Mr Cantu. "What if you could have Mum's homemade apple pie sent via e-mail and printed up at home? Her apple pie becomes as close as an instant message on Facebook." Whether or not the technology is successful will surely depend on what the food tastes like. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Glossary leftover stir-fry far-fetched commonplace cartridges electronic recipe space shuttle fertilisers production chain revolutionise homemade sushi edible blender syringes scallop negative industrial impact saut pans eliminated instant messaging the proof of the pudding is in the eating

1. Reading Quiz
Are these sentences true or false? Circle the correct answer. ? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Scientists in the US are developing 3D food printers. True / False They hope the printers will become widely used. True / False Scientists have succeeded in printing a space shuttle that can fly. True / False Homaru Cantu thinks the technology will be bad for the environment. True/ False Ingredients will be a mix of traditional printing ink and real food. True / False

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

2. Printing Phrases

a) Match the phrases to do with printing on the left with their definitions on the right. a. offered for sale by the publisher b. a document which has been printed c. no longer offered for sale by the publisher d. important part of a document which may be hard to read because of the small size e. to print a document from a printer

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

to print something out a printout in print out of print small print

b) Now complete the sentences below by using one of the phrases above. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Wait a moment, I need to ________ the document ______ before the meeting. Sorry sir, we no longer have that book. It's __________. Even though Chaucer died 600 years ago, his books are still _________. You have to read the _________ before you sign that contract, otherwise you might miss something important. Did you take _________ of the document? I need to check something.

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

3. Label the Picture Label the parts of the picture with vocabulary from below.

1. ______________

2. _______________

3. ______________

4. _______________

5. ______________

printout

printer

cartridge

input tray

output tray

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

4. Wordsearch Try to find the words associated with this week's article in the puzzle below. There are ten words to find. Words can be written horizontally (g), vertically (i) or diagonally (m) 10 (g) (i) (m)

a r t h p o e f m h e d f

l e f o e f r a e c r i o

l v o m c f c b p a f s r

i o r e i o a a r n h c y

w l c m s u s h i m o a o

a u h a a o b t n a e l u

s t r d l d l l t k e l a

t i i e d i b l e e m o n

i o s i k b l h r n a p m

r n m s i l e o w w d h e

f i c a r t r i d g e e i

r s y r i n g e i n u e r

y e s s d d a h c d l s n

revolutionise scallop

printer

cartridge syringe sushi stir-fry homemade

blender

edible

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Answers
1. Reading Quiz 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Scientists in the US are developing 3D food printers. True They hope the printers will become widely used. True Scientists have succeeded in printing a space shuttle that can fly. False Homaru Cantu thinks the technology will be bad for the environment. False Ingredients will be a mix of traditional printing ink and real food. False 2. Printing Phrases 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. e b a c d

6. Wait a moment, I need to print the document out before the meeting. 7. Sorry sir, we no longer have that book. It's out of print. 8. Even though Chaucer died 600 years ago, his books are still in print. 9. You have to read the small print before you sign that contract, otherwise you might miss something important. 10. Did you take a printout of the document? I need to check something.

3. Label the Picture

4. Wordsearch s r h e o v m o e l m s u s h p r i n b l t u a t d t i e d i b l e r n d s c a l l o p i o r n f i c a r t r i d g e e r r s y r i n g e y e

1. printer 2. input tray 3. printout 4. output tray 5. cartridge

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British Broadcasting Corporation 2011