Michela Petronio, Vice President of Blu1822, spoke about BluRhapsody at Metaland summit, in a speech moderated by Thomas Siffer, journalist and TV producer. The theme of the talk was “New technologies, nature, dream”.

T: New technologies have always impacted on our lives, improving production processes and shaping cultural processes. BluRhapsody, your project, hinges on both issues. Michela, tell us a bit about yourself: what is your job?

M: I deal with food innovation and I try to imagine the food of the future in collaboration with my teams… aware that it will always be a pleasure, first and foremost. Today we are here to talk about the impact of food innovation on haute cuisine and we are indeed working on a project to make pasta using 3D Printing technologies, a perfect example of the impact of technology on food.

T: What I find really hard to understand about 3D pasta is that when I go to the supermarket I can’t imagine wanting pasta of the future to be different than what it is today.

M: You have mentioned something interesting. Most people do not like change. However, it is crucial to explore the future and understand the first signs. We will still eat spaghetti, tortiglioni and fusilli, but it is also true that one loves to be amazed when trying a new dish, especially in haute cuisine. When we started exploring food printing, we wondered: why not? We like to think we can reinvent the art of making pasta. But what can we change? Certainly not the ingredients, semolina and water. So why shouldn’t we extrude pasta in a different way? 3D printing offers a way to obtain any shapes. Everything starts with curiosity and willingness to experiment. Imagine an impossible shape, which no one can make by hand or in any other way, it may even be the shape of a feeling, of music or anything one can think of. But the most important thing for us is establishing a relationship with chefs: it is indeed in their hands that the product turns into a tool to convey emotions.

T: Tell me about blurhapsody.com.

M: BluRhapsody is the name of our project and brand. Enthusiasts can order 3D pasta shapes online, receive them at home and let these inspire them when cooking. It is an original way to celebrate a moment, an anniversary, a birthday…

T: Let me say that they are not yet very cheap.

M: True. And “yet” is the right word. This is due to the fact that they are really handmade. When pasta is made the traditional way, hundreds of pieces are produced in a few seconds, when our pasta is made, only 9 pieces are produced every 3 minutes, then shapes are individually extracted from the printer and packaged… it is actually a slow motion process. It is highly technological while being extremely human and handcrafted…