Does "Electric Fork" which changes the taste by sending electricity to food cause a revolution in the eating habits of excessive salt?

One of the five senses of animals "taste"Is sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami five are regarded as basic taste. A new stimulus for extending these conventional tastes "Electric tasteThe University of Tokyo which is studying "Electric taste"Hiromi NakamuraYouTube channel that features topics related to food in the world to "Munchies"Is interviewing.

Food Hacking: Electric Fork - YouTube


The movie starts from the voice of "I will have you".


What I have in my hand is something that attached a palm-sized machine to a normal fork.


Pikuri fried with this device. "Chicken with chicken with carbonate .... Champagne chicken" and the device was used to eat fried chicken and the interviewer made a big impression.


"ELECTRIC FORK (Electric Fork)"


The stage of the movie is Tokyo.


Interviewer is Simon Claus who is a documentary film director from Sweden.


Hiromi Nakamura who is developing the electric fork. "Some people are making devices that use electricity directly on the tongue, like my device," says that not only himself is advancing research on electrical taste I will reveal. Also, as to the reason for tackling the electric taste, "For me, food hacking is food, there is food and expanding or shrinking taste on it, rather than doing them with real cooking, I want to do something like raising them with a sense. "


The interview was held at the University of Tokyo's Daiwa Ubiquitous Academic Research Center, where Ms. Nakamura serves as a scholarly researcher.


I think that it is an interview right after entering the room ......


It was taken out at a convenience store or a supermarket which was bought in the supermarket ... ...


Vegetable stick to Isobe fried. Apparently it seems to try eating this with an electric fork.


Close says, "When I first heard," I thought, 'What is it scary?' "Honestly confessed the first impression to the electric folk. On the other hand, Ms. Nakamura said, "People tend to be very nervous about eating, but I'm trying to make it stronger than I'm strong in terms of strength (electrical for the electric fork)" It is revealing that it is.


This is an electric fork. It is a device made to study electric taste.


Stab the chicken with a fork ... ...


When raising the slide at the holding part of the electric fork, Mr. Closed seemed to have sensed something like "ah!".



Mr. Close who stopped eating fried chicken once talks about the impression of using the electric fork for the first time with "I am really salty!" "Really funny!


According to Mr. Close and Ms. Nakamura, when electricity is flowed with the electric fork, it seems that a sense of spice such as sanshaw and a tongue like carbonate are added. It seems that 3 or 4 years have passed since Ms. Nakamura researched electric taste and added electricity to food by himself, but Close says "I am still alive" It is.

According to Ms. Nakamura, the electric taste itself seems to exist from about 250 years ago, and it is the Swiss scholar who discovered thisJohann Georg Sulzer. Also invented batteriesAlessandro VoltaElectricity also seems to have noticed that electricity influences the taste. Vulta seems to have succeeded in inventing batteries at the opportunity that I felt "something tasty ... ..." by holding two metal plates of different kinds on the tongue.

When Mr. Closed asked "Electric taste is a real taste?", Ms. Nakamura says "It is not a real taste.Taste is five of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami, and each one on human tongue There is a part to be perceived.Whether electricity is taste or something else is being examined for a long time, and commented that (in my view) it is very close to the taste ...... taste. Cruise asked, "Well then carbonate?", "Carbonic acid is slightly different from taste, but as a way of feeling it is very close to taste." For example, capsaicin and menthol etc. "Categories close to taste "Electric taste is close", Mr. Nakamura responded.


For example, in the case of regular dishes, it is impossible to remove soy sauce once, but Nakamura talks about how to use the electric fork and electric taste, if you can use electric forks to adjust the electricity and adjust the taste. Many Japanese sauces and miso have salty and many salty eating habits, but using an electric fork makes it possible to taste satisfactorily even with a small amount of salt, which can also be a measure against hypertension and the like That's why Mr. Closed is "awesome!"


In the electric fork, the fork part of the metal attached to the tip is one electrode, and the metal part wound around the handle part is the other electrode. A circuit is made by sticking food with a fork and including it in the mouth, electricity flows in the body, when the fork is released from the mouth, the circuit breaks and the electricity also stops appearing. In other words, the role of the switch is to "move the fork away from the mouth".


"Eating delicious, funny," Mr. Closed says, while eating a variety of things using electric forks.


In addition, Nakamura says that there are foods that do not match the food that fits the electric taste, Mr. Nakamura explains, "I do not want pepper to cake."

In addition, Mr. Close who eats carrot stick with miso mayonnaise. The impression that I ate was saying "I grew up in Nagoya so white miso turned red miso!" And it seems that salt will be felt more strongly by flowing electricity.


Next time, I will try to send electricity to drinks. Mr. Nakamura says "Orange juice becomes orange soda".


At the beginning of the experiment, Mr. Close says "It's a subtle expression.


However, it seems that the taste of juice suddenly changed, this expression. It seems like a trick to drink a straw on the tip of the tongue. Although it seems that it seems that carbonate will be added to orange juice when electricity is flowed, what kind of feeling is it ...?


Mr. Nakamura asked about future prospects, "I can set myself as a business, but then I will leave my interest, so I'd like to see what kind of reaction I will take out once in the world" And comments. Also, "The stimulation of the music heard by the ear is also converted to vibration from earphones and speakers until it comes to the speaker, from which it is converted into vibration, which is connected to this (electric fork) as it is and put on the tongue as it is If you can, YouTube and SoundCloud will be TasteCloud (Taste Cloud) as it is. " This taste cloud refers to things like uploading and taste the taste itself on the Internet and anyone can enjoy taste playing and enjoy it using "music editing software We can also adjust the taste, "Nakamura said.


Actually, Mr. Nakamura has released electric taste data on YouTube, so if you use the device you may be able to sense that the taste changes due to the data you play.

Hiromi apapa nakamura - YouTube