While people lined up to buy her steamed bread (馒头), Zhang Chaiyuan worked late into the night recently, she managed to mix modern elements (元素) into “Jiaodong huabobo”, a popular traditional food.

Huabobo refers to a flower-shaped steamed bread, which has been a treat (款待) at local folk activities, such as celebrations and festivals.

Zhang shaped huabobo by hand. And these shapes change from cute rabbits dressed in lion dance costumes to treasure bowls and lucky bags and so on.

Although her parents didn’t agree on her work, she still keeps making huabobo. “My grandmother used to make huabobo. They were in all kinds of shapes and very beautiful,” Zhang recalls. She then set her sights on huabobo at the beginning of 2020. At first, she learned from an experienced huabobo master about the basic skills and then practiced over and over on her own. It didn’t take long before Zhang got the whole process down to a fine art.

Later, Zhang opened her small huabobo shop in Yantai. Many of her followers came to buy her huabobo and praised that they were too cute to be eaten.

“Many people have shown great interest in the huabobo skills, especially women who have just become mothers,” she says. “I love traditional Chinese culture and I believe that this artwork is spreading around the world.”

There are certain foods which should never be stored(储存)in the fridge. Some of them may surprise you.

【小题1】 The cold temperature will make it hard. If you have made sandwiches with the bread, then you can store them in it.

We all love to have tomatoes. 【小题2】 The cold air in the fridge stops the ripening(成熟)process. And as we all know, ripening is what gives every tomato more taste. For best results, keep them out.

【小题3】 It needs no help from us. Putting it in your fridge will in fact increase the speed of the crystallization(结晶). This will make honey harder or nearly impossible to use.

If you haven’t opened your watermelons, then there’s no need to put them in your fridge. Research has shown that watermelons can be stored in room temperature.   【小题4】 Watermelons that have been cut open should be put in the fridge. What’s more, they should be covered.

Cucumber(黄瓜)enjoys room temperature. 【小题5】 Cool temperature can make cucumber’s skin(表皮)go bad faster, so find a dry and cool place at room temperature for your cucumber.

3D Printing Will Improve Our Food Choices

In early summer 2016, Londoners were treated to a new trend in dining. Food Ink, the world’s first 3D printing restaurant, opened to a special group of guests who dined on a nine-course meal prepared right before their eyes using 3D printers. Even the restaurant’s tables and chairs, lamps, cups, and plates were created with 3D technology. With London just the beginning, Food Ink plans to bring its creative restaurant form to a number of other cities around the world.

Like other 3D applications, printing food is a process that builds layers (层) upon layers of material on top of each other. Each layer is pushed through a print head to form an object with a desired shape, texture, size, and so on. Unlike other 3D printing, which uses spool (绕线轮) to create objects out of plastic, food materials in 3D printing are put into a syringe-like container (注射器形状的容器) which are then pressed into the shape required. Any food ingredients (原料) that can be pureed (煮成浓汤或者酱) or turned into a paste can be used in 3D food printing.

Fine dining is only one aspect of the food industry about to be improved by 3D printing. Researchers have been exploring ways to use 3D printing to deal with world hunger. Mass production of food using powdered (粉末状的) nutritional ingredients could help feed a growing population. The 3D-printed food would have the advantage of being produced cheaply and having a long shelf life. This is especially important with the world population projected to be 8.5 billion by 2030.

The technology will also enable consumers to quickly make meals with ingredients to suit their special health needs. Take the example of feeding elderly people, who often need to have their food pureed because they have problems with swallowing and chewing (咀嚼). Many elderly people did not like their food like this and so it discouraged them from eating. The Netherlands Organization for applied scientific research is turning to 3D printing to mash up peas, cabbages, and carrots to produce 3D-printed versions of the vegetables. These are easier to chew but hold their shape because of the addition of a gelling agent (胶凝剂). The 3D-printed vegetables are being served throughout nursing homes in Germany.

It seems that there is no end to the potential (潜力) of 3D printing. In 2013, NASA offered a large amount of money to develop a functional 3D food printer. The printer aims to create nutritional food to feed astronauts on long space missions. From creating special restaurant meals, to improving nutrition, to potentially feeding the world, 3D food printing is creating exciting new possibilities for food.