We designed Logic Bonbon, an interactive dessert (made completely out of foodstuff, without any electronics) that allows diners to change its flavour configuration interactively, just before eating.

The Logic Bonbon represents a novel approach that applies computer science thinking to the creation of dishes to allow for new and exciting ways to experience food.

Our research explores the notion of food as computational artifact, wherein food itself is the material of computation. We demonstrate the potential of this thinking through the Logic Bonbon, a dessert that can hydrodynamically regulate its flavor via a fluidic logic system.

The research demonstrates how we can make food “interactive” by implementing AND, OR and XOR logic gates (the fundamentals of computer science) with tasty ingredients.

This Logic Bonbon allows the chef to “program” their dish, and the diner executes it, just like “executing” a piece of software, allowing the diner to change the flavour configuration of their dessert right before eating it, allowing for more personalized eating experiences.

Through a study of experiencing the Logic Bonbon and reflection on our design practice, we offer a provisional account of how food as computational artifact can mediate new interactions through a novel approach to food-computation integration that promotes an enriched future of human-food interaction.

Prior work

See also our previous interactive food work called iScream!, WeScream! and Sonic Straws.

Publications

Deng, J., Olivier, P., Andres, J., Ellis, K., Wee, R., Mueller, F. Logic Bonbon: Exploring Food as Computational Artifact. CHI 2022. Long Paper. ACM. Video. Talk video.

Acknowledgements

We thank everyone who has helped.