Magic Leap, Microsoft's HoloLens, and Oculus VR hope to fool our eyes. A small team of designers, engineers, and chefs have cooked up a "gastronomical virtual reality experience" that uses head-mounted displays, 3-D printers, and food science to trick our taste buds.

Project Nourished combines brightly colored experimental cuisine, crafted from agar and pectin, with VR simulations intended to make those meager morsels seem tastier than they really are. If creator Jinsoo An succeeds, diners will don a virtual reality headset and be transported to a place where the Jello-like wedge placed before them is transformed into a sumptuous slice of apple pie.

Two things inspired Project Nourished. First, a scene in Hook where a grown Peter Pan remembers how to use his sense of imagination to turn bowls of colorful goop into a gourmet meal. Second, An's stepfather is diabetic and has had to cut some of his favorite foods from his diet. An's goal is to provide a savory simulation without spiking blood sugar. "Even though the food is completely imaginary, there is a sense of joy, happiness and being part of a family," says An. "We want this happiness to be the focal point of our experience."

Simulating food has an uncanny valley problem, one An decided to design around by making his virtual victuals distinct from the menu items they're meant to mimic. "We tackled this by making the faux foods look considerably different from the actual foods, while making it somewhat recognizable," he says. "This ensured that the users don't expect the foods to taste and feel in certain way, because it won't be 100 percent."

Texture is a critical culinary consideration and An's team is working to recreate the mouthfeel of sushi, steak, and apple pie using natural, low-calorie ingredients. "Some of our ingredients were inspired by vegan and allergy-free cooking since vegan and food allergy communities have already done a lot of experiments trying to mimic various types of foods that they are not able to eat," says An. "For example, we are experimenting with nutritious yeast and shiitake mushroom powder to recreate dry-aged and umami flavors in our faux steak."

. Photo: Project Nourished

Project Nourished isn't the only team pursuing this goal. Researchers Hiromi Nakamura and Nimesha Ranasinghe have been experimenting with tongue-based interfaces that can simulate sweet, salty, and savory flavors by sending an electrical current into taste buds. "While the research findings were quite extraordinary, we decided to move away from this direction since most people would be freaked out if we told them we are going to send electrical current through their tongue," says An.

An aromatic diffuser is employed to amplify the olfactory elements of the experience, turning scented oils into pleasing aromas. "Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking into a bakery with fresh breads and pies. We want that experience to be replicated in our pie-eating experience," says An. "So far, we have tried turning beer, broth, herb and fruit-infused water into fine mist, and they worked quite nicely."

The Project Nourished team loves cooking, eating, and knows it will be a long time before VR can compete with Per Se. But that's no reason not to push the boundaries. "After experimenting with sous vide and molecular gastronomy, I wanted to see if there are other ways for us to consume food," says An. "Some of these ideas can be quite scary or seem far out, but I think designers, technologists and culinary professionals should start thinking about these implications so that we can make more conscious decisions down the line. One thing we should never do is to fear."