TastePrint: A 3D Food Printing System for Layer-wise Taste Distribution via Airbrushed Liquid Seasoning

Abstract

3D food printing enables the customization of food shapes and textures, but typically produces uniform taste profiles due to the limited diversity of printable materials. We present TastePrint, a 3D food printing system that achieves layer-wise spatial taste distribution by dynamically applying liquid seasonings with a programmable airbrush during fabrication. The system integrates (1) a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows users to import 3D models, slice them into layers, and specify seasoning channels, spray positions, and intensities, and (2) a customized 3D food printer equipped with a multi-nozzle spray mechanism. We evaluated the system through technical experiments quantifying spray resolution and deposition accuracy, a minimal sensory discrimination study on taste localization, and an exploratory formative user-feedback study involving three home cooks. The spray-resolution model achieved $R^2 = 0.86$, and the spray-amount model achieved $R^2 = 0.99$. The filter-paper calibration showed broad consistency with measurements obtained on edible mashed-potato samples. In the sensory discrimination study, participants identified the centralized seasoning pattern as more localized in 27 of 40 trials (67.5 %). These findings indicate that TastePrint can provide repeatable hardware-level control over seasoning placement and quantity while offering initial evidence that spatial taste arrangement can remain perceptually meaningful after fabrication.