It sounds like a scene from a science fiction film but if one food concept designer has her way this is how everybody will be eating in the near future.

While 3D food-printing technology is not a new thing, the invention of this self-growing snack that makes its own filling could change the way we consume food, forever.

The Edible Growth project is the brainchild of Dutch concept designer Chloé Rutzerveld who conceived of the idea to show that high-tech or lab-produced food does not have to be 'unhealthy and unnatural.'

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The Edible Growth project is the brainchild of Dutch food and concept designer Chloé Rutzerveld

Embedded in a pastry shell are seeds, yeast and spores, which take between three to five days to fully mature

The snack is a pastry shell embedded with seeds, yeast and spores, which take three to five days to mature, after which it is ready to be consumed.

On her website Ms Rutzerveld explained in a video: 'The Edible Growth Project is about creating a fully edible ecosystem with living organisms in which the base gets printed by a 3D-printer and gradually develops towards a fully-fledged dish.'

HOW DOES THE FOOD GROW? Multiple layers containing seeds, spores and yeast are printed according to a personalized 3D file. Within five days the plants and fungi mature and the yeast ferments the solid inside into a liquid. The product’s intensifying structure, scent and taste are reflected in its changing appearance. Depending on the preferred intensity, the consumer decides when to harvest and enjoy the delicious, fresh and nutrient-rich edible. Advertisement

According to Ms Rutzerveld, the project is an example of high-tech but fully natural, healthy, and sustainable food made possible by combining aspects of nature, science, technology and design.

Edible Growth makes use of natural processes like fermentation and photosynthesis and lowers the use of resources.

She explained: 'It shows that high tech food doesn't have to be unhealthy or unnatural, but that it can actually have a lot of advantages.

'The printer is not only used as a kind of shaping machine in which material A gets in and also comes out in another shape but it is used to create innovative food that truly contributes to solving the world's food problems.'

The snack in its various stages: 3D-printed nylon prototype (left) and growth test to see if it will take (right)

Success: The inner workings of the Edible Growth prototype which shows mushrooms and sprouts

The food designer aims to use the new food technology to create natural, healthy, sustainable and nutrient rich food that cannot be made with traditional production methods.

'With Edible Growth a lot of unnecessary stages of the food chain disappear with as result a reduction of food waste, food miles and CO2 emission. At the same time the consumer will become more involved and conscious about the food they eat,' she continued.

The product is built from several layers, with an outer shell of crust made of dough or pasta, and on the inside spores, seeds, yeast and edible soiled are contained.

A new way of eating: From machine to mouth in five days. The food designer hopes her concept will change the way we view and consume food in the future

The new food technology will create natural, healthy, sustainable, and nutrient rich food that cannot be made using traditional production methods

After it has been printed, the consumer takes it home and within three to five days, it will develop into a complete dish that contains all the nutrients a the body needs.

She compares the process to the maturing of cheese.

'Just like Roquefort cheese, the intensity of its taste, smell and whole eating experience increases over time.

'If we could produce our food this way, you can imagine that the food supply chain would shrink immensely,' she said.

The project is still at a conceptual stage at this point.

'Apart from the necessary technological development, a lot of biotechnological research will be needed on the composition of ingredients and food safety for instance,' she said.