I am an eater. I like food, and I like good food. Not necessarily fancy food – though if it’s tasty then I’m there; but I like things that taste good, tastes I haven’t tried before, and food I’ve never heard of but that might be just the right thing for me. So I do consider myself pretty food-adventurous.
And I like VR. I had very little experience with it at all, until we got the VR kits we are loaning out to members. It’s been quite fun to work with it, to see new things, and to virtually visit all kinds of places and see things I’d never otherwise see.
But I feel kind of doubtful right now about mixing these things together. Though clearly at least one chef, and some diners, feel empowered to give it a try! And you know, if I had the chance I’m sure I’d try once. (Possibly with a little unease – though sometimes those adventures have the best payoff!)
Check out this experience of virtual reality dining, and see if it’s something you want to try!
This virtual reality dining experience is trippy — and might be the future of restaurants
” All the uncertainty starts when you and several other diners are seated in a darkened room on spinnable chairs, goggles strapped to your head. You’ve been coached on how to eat in the virtual reality world you’re about to enter — just line up your fingers along a sensor on the vessel in which the dishes arrive, and then hinge your neck back and tip the seven one-bite “courses” into your mouth. But that instruction doesn’t quite prepare you for what’s coming.
Your hands appear as strange, robotic appendages that wiggle unfamiliarly as you move them. Look down, and your legs have disappeared.
It’s delightful — plates and spoons fly around your head, and when you reach out to touch them … poof! They slide out of reach and disappear.
And at times it veers into unsettling, as when tendrils growing up from the ground (Are they tentacles? Roots?) at first seem benign, but slowly envelop you as a spider might surround its prey with silk threads. A murky mushroom forest grows beneath you.”
Read the rest of the article, and ponder: is this food? is this art? Is a fun combination of the two a possible future for our eating? The possibilities are endless!