There’s Now A Phone Screen You Can Lick And Taste Different Flavors
A new technical endeavor allows a phone or tablet screen to gain flavor thanks to a particular process. You can watch it in action right here.
This article is more than 2 years old
If you’re like me and you ever watched Willy Wonka and wondered what it would be like to actually like a screen and taste something through the said screen, well now that might turn into a possibility. A professor in Japan has invented a device that emits a screen flavor when it is licked. This prototype TV screen actually emits flavors when the person controlling the device actually licks it. That is some pretty astounding and odd technology.
This new device branded TTTV, or Taste the TV, actually allows the user to taste what they are seeing on the screen via a disposable and hygienic film cover that is placed over the device. This is achieved by the usage of a carousel of 10 flavor canisters that combine together to give a sort of similar taste profile that is sprayed over the hygienic piece of film that is layered over the device. This screen flavor technology would be groundbreaking but might seem like an odd thing to want to get off the ground during the world going through a pandemic. However, that also might be why its initial invention came about.
Creator, Homei Miyashita, claims this technology can help the world connect on a much deeper level. Being that one might never be able to travel all the way to Japan, they could use this device to taste a meal that is only available in that given country. According to Miyashita “The goal is to make it possible for people to have the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home.” That’s a great idea but considering the price of such a device, this might not be a possibility for quite some time. Screen flavor technology might still be in the infancy of its potential usage.
The prototype was developed by Miyashita and 30 students, who have also worked on similar food-enhancing devices, like a fork that supposedly makes food taste richer. The device was built in a year’s time but a commercial version of it would cost around 100,000 yen, which calculates into nearly $875 US dollars. Though wanting to try screen flavor at home, that doesn’t seem like a price that most people would pay when they could simply travel to said country and try the food for themselves.
The genius of the screen flavor device could help out-of-country sommeliers and cooks who are stuck in their countries due to the pandemic. Miyashita also claimed there would be an aim to attempt to use the technology for tasting games and quizzes as well. One thing is for sure if this could be used to tase the food on Master Chef or Hell’s Kitchen, count us in.
A student at the Meji University, named Yuki Hou, tested the device for reporters and claimed that when she licked the device “it’s kind of like milk chocolate, it’s sweet like chocolate sauce.” Trusting some device to give accurate taste profiles through the usage of screen flavor canisters sounds odd, but maybe the schnoz berries do taste like schnoz berries.
