Mass customization of food in real time

[mattbell]

I'm not thrilled that this is happening for a sugary beverage, but the concept is fantastic:

Coke has made a custom drink machine that will mix drinks on command

Here are some areas I'd rather see it in:
- Granolas.  Most granolas are way too sugary.  I want to be able to pick the mix of ingredients for my granola, and have the machine mix them in real time.  I suppose I could do this by hand (and I sort of do it already by adding an extra ingredient or two) but this would be waaay more convenient
- Trail mixes.  Ditto to granolas
- Nut butters and syrups.  Yes, I want independent sliders for hazelnut, chocolate, and sugar for my Nutella.
- Vitamins, whey protein etc.  This might be too much work to do locally, but I'd love to be able to pick the optimal nutrient mix for my body and have it delivered custom-mixed to me.

This is one reason I like good bartenders.  They're like the machine, but with a cheery disposition, lots of knowledge, and a voice interface.  :-)  So this one time... I was in a bar in NYC, and there was a yummy-looking drink on the menu called the Angry Lesbian.  I believe it involved tarragon-infused vodka, orange rind, ginger, framboise, and a bit of sugar.  I asked for it with no added sugar since I like my drinks less sweet.  I paused, and then said, "yes, I'd like my Angry Lesbian extra angry." 

Comments

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

The co-op I used to shop at in Iowa City had a machine that would grind nuts into butters. As I recall, it was pretty expensive, but you could pair a couple of those up with some peristaltic pump assemblies and a mixing blade to build a roll-your-own-nutella bot.

I have not yet gotten around to writing that Arduino control library for the peristaltic pumps I got out of a Swiffer WetJet a while back, and those pumps are definitely too small for something as viscous as nut butter, but that kind of code would be reusable.