French scientist and Harvard professor David Edwards has created what he calls a Le Whaf (food cloud), where ingredients of a meal are boiled into a liquid, strained, then poured into a large French gadget, similar to a glass cauldron.
The glass carafe or cauldron was developed with the culinary designer Marc Bretillot.
“It’s a vase that has an ultrasound planted in the bottom of it, so it agitates the liquid hard enough and fast enough that it will create a cloud,” Chef Norman Aitken said.
“It is used, essentially, as a vehicle for flavor.”
The cloud concept was inspired by another of Edwards’ inventions called Le Whif, an aerosol that sprays particles of dark chocolate, coffee, and tea. Edward sold an unbelievable 400,000 Le Whif units.
Aitken cooked up a beef and mushroom consomme — a type of clear soup made from richly flavored stock — into a cloud with the large cauldron-like gadget which he samples for free at Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar in Ottawa’s Westboro neighborhood.
The restaurant does not charge for the “virtual” meal.
“When you’re smelling wine, same premise. Instead you’re going to smell it. You’re going to, essentially, inhale it leaving you with flavor on your sinus and palate,” said Aitken.
The food cloud can be inhaled through a straw. One customer, Carolyn Likely, said the cloud was, “a taste sensation without something in your mouth.”
A Canadian news agency, CBC News, claims the food cloud is now a popular movement for dieters in Europe because inhaling the air can curb appetite.
The invention of this ridiculous contraption proves professor Edwards has way too much time on his hands.
One can walk by any bakery or restaurant to gratify the sense of smell, which only serves to tempt and encourage an appetite, not satisfy it.
Edwards has also created other equally absurd inventions. The Harvard professor, together with French designer Philippe Starck, invented a spray they claimed will render you instantly drunk once it’s sprayed in your mouth.
Edwards suggests the blissful state of intoxication will only last for a few seconds, and once the effects wear off, you’ll be able to pass a breathalyser.
The spray is called “Wahh Quantum Sensations” and each dose consists of just 0.075 milliliters of alcohol, but when aerosolized by the spray’s unique mechanism, the dose is suppose to makes you feel fully intoxicated, though only briefly.
A drink contains 40 to 60 ml of alcohol. It would take almost 1,000 sprays for the effects of a drink. The spray contains only 2 ml water, alcohol, and flavorings.