Magic Leap, Microsoft’s HoloLens, and Oculus VR hope to fool our eyes. A small team of designers, engineers, and chefs have cooked up a “gastronomical virtual reality experience” that uses head-mounted displays, 3-D printers, and food science to trick our taste buds.Magic Leap、微软公司的 HoloLens 还有欧酷纳（Oculus VR）都想要愚弄我们的双眼。一小队设计师、工程师和厨师却烹调出有了用于头戴式表明、3D打印机和食品科学来愚弄我们的味蕾的“虚拟现实美食体验”。

Project Nourished combines brightly colored experimental cuisine, crafted from agar and pectin, with VR simulations intended to make those meager morsels seem tastier than they really are. If creator Jinsoo An succeeds, diners will don a virtual reality headset and be transported to a place where the Jello-like wedge placed before them is transformed into a sumptuous slice of apple pie.Project Nourished把用琼脂和果胶做成的颜色鲜亮的实验菜肴与虚拟现实建模技术相结合，让那些真是的小块食物看上去更加美味。如果发明人福辰浂顺利了，食客们将戴着上虚拟现实头部套装被传输到一个让那些放在他们面前的果冻一样的小块食物变为一块奢侈的苹果派的地方。Two things inspired Project Nourished. First, a scene in Hook where a grown Peter Pan remembers how to use his sense of imagination to turn bowls of colorful goop into a gourmet meal. Second, An’s stepfather is diabetic and has had to cut some of his favorite foods from his diet. An’s goal is to provide a savory simulation without spiking blood sugar. “Even though the food is completely imaginary, there is a sense of joy, happiness and being part of a family,” says An. “We want this happiness to be the focal point of our experience.”两件事给了 Project Nourished 启发。第一个是《铁钩船长》中的一个场景。

长大了的彼得潘回想了怎样用他的想象力把五彩浆变为美味大餐。第二件事是，福辰浂的继父患上糖尿病，被迫防止食用一些他讨厌的食物。福辰浂的目标是构建一种不增高血糖的味觉仿真。“尽管食物几乎是虚拟世界的，但这是一种感觉、快乐和作为家庭一份子的感觉。

”福辰浂说道，“我们期望这种幸福感是我们这项体验的核心。”Simulating food has an uncanny valley problem, one An decided to design around by making his virtual victuals distinct from the menu items they’re meant to mimic. “We tackled this by making the faux foods look considerably different from the actual foods, while making it somewhat recognizable,” he says. “This ensured that the users don’t expect the foods to taste and feel in certain way, because it won’t be 100 percent.”建模食物也面对可怕谷问题。

针对这个问题，福辰浂要求将他的虚拟世界食品制作得和被仿造的食品不过于一样。“我们把建模食品做得和现实食品看起来不过于一样，但又能让人看出来被仿造的食品是什么。我们通过这种办法来解决问题这个问题。

”他说道，“这确保了用户会对将享用的食物产生特定的味道和感觉的期望，因为它会是100%还原成的。”Texture is a critical culinary consideration and An’s team is working to recreate the mouthfeel of sushi, steak, and apple pie using natural, low-calorie ingredients. “Some of our ingredients were inspired by vegan and allergy-free cooking since vegan and food allergy communities have already done a lot of experiments trying to mimic various types of foods that they are not able to eat,” says An. “For example, we are experimenting with nutritious yeast and shiitake mushroom powder to recreate dry-aged and umami flavors in our faux steak.”质感是烹调中的最重要问题。福辰浂的团队于是以尝试用天然的低热量配料再现寿司、牛排和苹果派的口感。

“我们的有些配方是不受素食和以防过敏烹调的灵感，因为素食主义者和食物过敏群体早已做到了很多仿效他们无法不吃的各种食物的实验。”福辰浂说道，“比如，我们正在试验用营养酵母和香菇粉来让我们的仿照牛排再现干式熟成的风味和鲜味。

”Project Nourished isn’t the only team pursuing this goal. Researchers Hiromi Nakamura and Nimesha Ranasinghe have been experimenting with tongue-based interfaces that can simulate sweet, salty, and savory flavors by sending an electrical current into taste buds. “While the research findings were quite extraordinary, we decided to move away from this direction since most people would be freaked out if we told them we are going to send electrical current through their tongue,” says An.Project Nourished 并不是追赶这个目标的唯一团队。中村裕美和 Nimesha Ranasinghe 等研究者也在研究通过向味蕾发送到电流来仿真辣、咸、鲜等味道的基于舌头的交互界面。“尽管这些研究成果十分出众，我们还是要求不回头这个方向，因为如果我们告诉他他们我们将向他们的舌头传输电流，大多数人都会被吓傻。

”福辰浂说道。An aromatic diffuser is employed to amplify the olfactory elements of the experience, turning scented oils into pleasing aromas. “Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking into a bakery with fresh breads and pies. We want that experience to be replicated in our pie-eating experience,” says An. “So far, we have tried turning beer, broth, herb and fruit-infused water into fine mist, and they worked quite nicely.”一种芳香扩散器被用来提高体验中的嗅觉因素，将芳香油变为怡人的香味。“闭上你的眼镜，想象你于是以走出一间敲着刚刚揭晓的面包和为首的面包房。

我们期望这种体验能在我们的为首享用体验中再现。”福辰浂说道，“到目前为止，我们早已尝试了将啤酒、肉汤、香料和水果味的水做成气雾，它们很顺利。”The Project Nourished team loves cooking, eating, and knows it will be a long time before VR can compete with Per Se. But that’s no reason not to push the boundaries. “After experimenting with sous vide and molecular gastronomy, I wanted to see if there are other ways for us to consume food,” says An. “Some of these ideas can be quite scary or seem far out, but I think designers, technologists and culinary professionals should start thinking about these implications so that we can make more conscious decisions down the line. One thing we should never do is to fear.”Project Nourished 团队热衷烹调和美食，他们也告诉虚拟现实要想和 Per Se 餐厅较量还有很长的路要回头。但是，没理由停滞不前。

“试验过真空低温烹饪和分子烹调之后，我想要告诉我们是不是其他办法来利用食物。”福辰浂说道，“有些点子有可能很可怕或很怪异，但我指出设计师、技术人员和烹调专家应当开始考虑到这些应用于，让我们将来能作出更加多合理的自由选择。我们唯一意味著不应做到的事就是惧怕。

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