BigShinyThing

Business Week reports that developers at NEC have devised a new robot sommelier that can correctly identify wines and cheeses:

When it has identified a wine, the robot speaks up in a childlike voice. It names the brand and adds a comment or two on the taste, such as whether it is a buttery chardonnay or a full-bodied shiraz, and what kind of foods might go well on the side.

[NEC spokesperson] Shimazu said the robots could be “personalized,” or programmed to recognize the kinds of wines its owner prefers and recommend new varieties to fit its owner’s taste. Because it is analyzing the chemical composition of the wine or food placed before it, it can also alert its owner to possible health issues, gently warning against fatty or salty products.

The commercial application of such a robot may be to verify the authenticity of expensive wines on auction, or for automated inspection of food quality.

The machine isn’t perfect, however:

When a reporter’s hand was placed against the robot’s taste sensor, it was identified as prosciutto. A cameraman was mistaken for bacon.

Shades of RoboCop! There’s no mention of what happened to the mis-identified reporter and cameraman, but the accompanying story is short on pictures. We fear the worst.

Via Bldgblog. More images elsewhere online.

In 2001, politically-aware musician and theorist Matthew Herbert released the album The Mechanics of Destruction — composed entirely using the sounds of commercial products which irk him — as a free download. Tracks include Nike and Starbucks is Coming. The latter is composed entirely from the (heavily) processed sounds of one caramel latte and one Frappucino, with a strong dash of rage stirred in.

Since then, Herbert has continued to focus both microphone and anger on the globalised food industry. The result is Plat du Jour, released in July, and subsequently performed live on tour by an ensemble which includes a chef who adds onstage olfactory accompaniment. The new album is composed entirely from sounds related to corporate food production. On his website, Herbert explains:

I am tired of having to tolerate the international language of cheap convenience food - convenient mainly to those that make and serve it. The bright pinky orange of farmed salmon in aeroplane trays, the branded waters 1000 times more expensive than tap water, the dismal spread of the hotel breakfast buffet, with its pre-formed meat slices, pasteurised juices, mechanically produced bread and Nestle yoghurts full of sugar and potassium sorbate…

This record then, aims to tell some of the hidden stories behind the overly-elaborate and wasteful packets. It looks at what’s on the menu and asks you to makes decisions based on criteria other than taste. The album will include tracks made from a grain of sugar, 30,000 chickens, a salmon farm, the sewers below London and water.

Is it any good? Read the usually-perceptive review at Pitchfork, or buy the CD and make up your own mind. Better yet: get with the program, save on wasteful packaging and shipping, and download the whole album for a mere 5 squids. You might develop a taste for it.

The technology will enable produce distributors to tattoo fruit and veg with their names, identifying numbers, country of origin and other information to help speed distribution. It also forms part of the produce industry’s efforts to track and identify all the food that goes into American shopping baskets.

Since 9/11, the industry has been encouraged to develop ‘track and trace’ technology to allow protection of the food supply at various stages of distribution. Next year, federal regulations will require all imported produce to be labeled with the country of origin. Wal-Mart already requires all pallets delivered to its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to be fitted with radio frequency identification tags, so that they can be tracked by satellite.

In 2002, Durand-Wayland, a fruit grower and distributor based in Georgia, bought the patent for a process that etches the price look-up number and any other information the retailer or customer might want to know directly onto the fruit of the skin. Greg Drouillard, who originally patented laser coding for produce and who now works for Durand-Wayland, said the process permanently tattoos each piece of fruit, removing only the outer pigment to reveal a contrasting layer underneath and make the tattoo readable, even scanable.

According to Fred Durand III, president of Durand-Wayland, “With the right scanning technology, the produce could even be bar-coded with lots of information: where it comes from, who grew it, who picked it, even how many calories it has per serving … You could have a green pepper that was completely covered with coding. Or you could sell advertising space.”

If you find the idea of your vegetables looking like something out of The Matrix alarming, consider this: consumers in Japan are already using their mobile phones to scan barcodes giving them all the information they need about the food they buy, including its origins and the pesticides used. See previous post, ‘Check the Label’.

Courtesy of Gawker.

“As often as possible, when a really beautiful bottle of wine is before me, I drink all I can of it, even when I know I have had more than I want physically. That is gluttonous. But I think to myself, when again will I have this taste upon my tongue. Where else in the world is there just such wine as this, with just this bouquet, at just this heat, is this crystal cup. And when again will I be alive to it as I am this very minute, sitting here on a green hillside above the sea, or here on this dim, murmuring, richly odorous restaurant.”

MFK Fisher (1908-1992).

A blog about the glory of food, Fire and Knives.