English Story

法国餐厅推出“吸入式食物机”

A restaurant in Paris is offering flavours that you can inhale, instead of tasting them physically.

巴黎一家餐厅新近推出“吸入式食物”,食客不用动口就能品尝美食。

File photo of LeWhaf. The act of breathing in flavours is known as 'whaffing,' which is being predicted as a futuristic way of eating.
File photo of LeWhaf. The act of breathing in flavours is known as 'whaffing,' which is being predicted as a futuristic way of eating.
The act of breathing in flavours is known as 'whaffing,' which is being predicted as a futuristic(未来派的) way of eating.

A contraption(奇妙的装置) that resembles a goldfish bowl, called LeWhaf, is wafting(飘荡,吹拂) smoke of lemon tart flavour, which is being sampled by a food expert.

She says the lemon tart is zingy(极漂亮的,活泼的) and fresh. Next, a whaf of tarte tatin(苹果派) fills her mouth with caramel(焦糖,饴糖) , the Daily Mail reports.

This invention is the brainchild(脑力劳动的产物) of a Harvard University professor and aerosol(喷雾的) scientist David Edwards, aged 49 years.

Imagine a restaurant where, instead of sitting at a table, you walk around, he says.

Instead of eating food, you're breathing it in as you walk from room to room, each with a different flavour. Celery in one. Steak in another. Then pate.

Edwards is adamant(固执的) that this smoky little bowl will go on sale in France this autumn for less than 85 pounds and quickly catch on around the world.

You can even use it to whaf alcohol. Drinks with strong flavours such as whiskeys work well, explains Edwards. To make it work, you have to pour 50 ml of the drink you want to whaf into a well in the base.

Whaffing food is more complicated. If you want, say, tomato soup, you need to buy a specially-prepared liquidised version of the dish made by Edwards's team, which contains a secret mix of its 'essences'.

To make the machine work, just press the 'on' switch. Within a minute, a cloud of tiny droplets forms in the goldfish bowl.

The cloud can be dispensed from a nozzle(喷嘴,管口) on the side of Le Whaf. It then stays suspended inside the glass for a minute before it sinks.