There’s a new frontier in 3D printing that’s beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn’t stopping there.

Food production

With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that -- it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to “re-create forms and pieces” of food that are “exactly the same,”, freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.

Sustainability（可持续性）

The global population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some analysts estimate that food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels. Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contribute to the solution. Some experts believe printers could use hydro-colloids（水解胶体）from plentiful renewable like algae（藻类）and grass to replace the familiar ingredients. 3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions. Grocery stores of the future might stock “food” that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

Nutrition

Future 3D food printers could make processed food healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, “Food printing could allow consumers to print food with customized nutritional content, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday’s bread from the supermarket, you’d eat something baked just for you on demand.”

Challenges

Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing, the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste before a printer can use them, and the printing process is quite time-consuming, because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are skeptical about 3D food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.

In China, fast food is becoming more and more popular these days. 【小题1】 Why do Chinese young people like fast food so much? First, it is quick. In McDonald’s and KFC, you can take the food quickly after ordering it. 【小题2】 Second, it is easy to carry. You can eat there or take it to your home. 【小题3】 You can eat your food, listening to music or playing with phones. 【小题4】 Fast food like hamburgers or ice-cream has too much fat or sugar. If you want to keep healthy, do not go to fast food restaurants too often. 【小题5】 Chinese food is much healthier than (比) fast food. And the food tastes more delicious. So, eat Chinese food, and you will enjoy it.

A report says that young people who were born between 1995 and 2009 have different ways of life. Here are some hot ways in 2022.

★Food

Younger people are trying difficult dishes at home.

One sixth expressed their wish to cook at home.

More than a quarter of teenagers and young adults are trying new things, like making bread and cakes.

★Health

Teenagers and young adults care more about their health of the mind.

About one third will continue to take part in sports. They will exercise twice to three times a day. 40% join in kinds of clubs and make many friends through exercise.

About a quarter of them will depend on creative activities like drawing and writing music to stay happy.

★Shopping

Online shopping will still be popular. But it will move away from big retailer (零售店) websites to social media (媒体) and secondhand websites.

●27% of teenagers and young adults are expecting to shop directly through social media websites.

●24% are expecting to shop through special in-app services.

●23% are expecting to shop through secondhand websites.

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