Food designer Chloé Rutzerveld's concept for "healthy and sustainable" 3D-printed snacks that sprout little herbs and mushrooms for flavor sounds like something we'd very much like to munch.

The Dutch designer's Edible Growth project proposes 3D-printed shapes that contain seeds, spores and yeast, which germinate after a few days. The center inside that basket-weave structure is agar agar, a gelatin-like substance that comes from a kind of edible seaweed. Vegans use agar to create "Jell-o" without gelatin, which is made from animal bones. In this design, the agar becomes a friendly platform in which the plants can grow.

"Edible growth is exploring how 3D printing could transform the food industry," she says in this short video. "It is about 3D printing with living organisms, which will develop into a fully grown edible."

"As it comes out of the 3D printer you can really see the straight lines of the technology," she says. "But as it develops, you can see organic shapes. You can see the stages of growth and the development of taste and flavor."

[via Dezeen]