Did you know electricity can alter the way we taste food? Proving this fact is a revolutionary electric fork designed by Japanese researchers that can make any dish taste salty, thus acting as a substitute for the popular seasoning.

你知道電可以改變人類飲食的方式嗎？由日本研究人員設計的電動餐叉證實了這一點，這種革新性的餐叉能夠使食物變咸，成為常用調料的替代品。

According to Hiromi Nakamura, a Post Doc Research Fellow at Tokyo’s Meiji University, the technology can be very useful for people on special diets. Patients with low blood pressure, for instance, can easily go on a low-salt diet and still enjoy delicious food. And with the fork, there’s absolutely no risk of over-salting your food. Luckily, the voltage is so small that there is no risk of electrocution either.

東京的明治大學的博士后研究員中村博美稱，這項技術尤其適用于特殊飲食的人群。例如，低血壓患者在輕松保持低鹽膳食的同時，亦可享用美味佳肴。用了電動餐叉，即使過度調味也絕對毫無危害，而且好在電壓很小，所以也不存在觸電的風險。

The idea of adding electricity to food was first revealed as an experiment at the Computer Human Interaction Conference in Austin, Texas, in 2023. Nakamura and her team connected a wire to a 9-volt battery and threaded it through a straw placed in a cup of sweet lemonade. Volunteers (who were asked to sign a waiver) reported that the charged lemonade tasted ‘blander’, because the electricity simulated the taste of salt.

2023年，在德克薩斯州奧斯汀舉辦的人機交互會議中，將食物中匯入電流的理念以實驗的形式首度曝光。中村和她的團隊把一根電線連接于一個9伏特的電池上，然后將這跟電線穿過一根插在甜檸檬水中的吸管。志愿者們（被要求簽署免責條例）報告稱，通電的檸檬水喝起來“口感更清淡”，因為電流冒充了鹽的味道。

Nakamura, along with professor Homei Miyashita, now call the idea ‘Augmented Gustation’ and have refined the technology to be able to transfer an electric charge to food through forks and chopsticks. “The metallic part of the fork is one electrode, and the handle is another,” Nakamura explained. “When you take a piece of food with the fork and put it in your mouth, you close the circuit. When you remove the fork from your mouth, you disconnect the circuit. So it actually works as a switch.”

中村和宮下芳名教授如今稱這一理念為“增強味覺”，他們已經改善了技術，使電荷能通過餐叉和筷子傳導入食物中去。“叉子的金屬部件是一個電極，手柄則是另一個電極，”中村解釋道：“當你叉起一塊食物放入嘴中時，電路接通，當你的叉子離開嘴巴時，電路斷開。事實上它的工作原理就像開關一樣。”

Munchies host Simon Klose, who recently visited Nakamura to try out the fork himself, called this form of ‘food hacking’ one of the most profound eating experiences he’s ever had. “When I first heard of electric food it sounded scary,” he said, in a 15-minute documentary clip about the special technology. He later proceeded to use a charged fork to eat pieces of fried chicken, and found that the saltiness considerably increased as the electricity was dialed up.

Munchies網站主辦人西蒙·克洛斯最近拜訪了中村，親自試用這款餐叉后，他表示這種“食品黑客”的形式是他最難忘的美食體驗之一。“當我第一次聽說通電食物時覺得特別可怕，”在15分鐘的紀錄片剪輯里他這樣評價這一特殊技術。之后，他開始用通電餐叉吃炸雞塊，他發現當電流接通時，食物明顯變咸。

“It’s so salty!” he says, after taking a bite. “This is cool. It’s almost sparking. It has a spicy fizziness. Like sparkling, carbonated chicken.”

“太咸啦！”他咬了一口之后說：“好酷啊，好像馬上就要冒火花了，還有一點辣，像碳化雞。”

Nakamura has been eating ‘electric’ food for the past three to four years, in an attempt to understand it better. “For me, food hacking is about augmenting or diminishing real food,” she said. “It may seem like we’re cooking but we’re actually working on the human senses. We are inventing devices to add electricity to the tongue. We’re trying to create virtual taste.”

過去的三至四年里，中村一直都在吃“通電食物”，試著更好地認識它。“對我來說，‘食物黑客’就是在強化或是削弱真正的食物，”她說：“表面上我們是在烹飪，實際上是在人類感官上做文章。我們在發明將電流輸入舌頭的設備，我們正試著創造出虛擬味道。”

Did you know electricity can alter the way we taste food? Proving this fact is a revolutionary electric fork designed by Japanese researchers that can make any dish taste salty, thus acting as a substitute for the popular seasoning.

你知道電可以改變人類飲食的方式嗎？由日本研究人員設計的電動餐叉證實了這一點，這種革新性的餐叉能夠使食物變咸，成為常用調料的替代品。

According to Hiromi Nakamura, a Post Doc Research Fellow at Tokyo’s Meiji University, the technology can be very useful for people on special diets. Patients with low blood pressure, for instance, can easily go on a low-salt diet and still enjoy delicious food. And with the fork, there’s absolutely no risk of over-salting your food. Luckily, the voltage is so small that there is no risk of electrocution either.

東京的明治大學的博士后研究員中村博美稱，這項技術尤其適用于特殊飲食的人群。例如，低血壓患者在輕松保持低鹽膳食的同時，亦可享用美味佳肴。用了電動餐叉，即使過度調味也絕對毫無危害，而且好在電壓很小，所以也不存在觸電的風險。

The idea of adding electricity to food was first revealed as an experiment at the Computer Human Interaction Conference in Austin, Texas, in 2023. Nakamura and her team connected a wire to a 9-volt battery and threaded it through a straw placed in a cup of sweet lemonade. Volunteers (who were asked to sign a waiver) reported that the charged lemonade tasted ‘blander’, because the electricity simulated the taste of salt.

2023年，在德克薩斯州奧斯汀舉辦的人機交互會議中，將食物中匯入電流的理念以實驗的形式首度曝光。中村和她的團隊把一根電線連接于一個9伏特的電池上，然后將這跟電線穿過一根插在甜檸檬水中的吸管。志愿者們（被要求簽署免責條例）報告稱，通電的檸檬水喝起來“口感更清淡”，因為電流冒充了鹽的味道。

Nakamura, along with professor Homei Miyashita, now call the idea ‘Augmented Gustation’ and have refined the technology to be able to transfer an electric charge to food through forks and chopsticks. “The metallic part of the fork is one electrode, and the handle is another,” Nakamura explained. “When you take a piece of food with the fork and put it in your mouth, you close the circuit. When you remove the fork from your mouth, you disconnect the circuit. So it actually works as a switch.”

中村和宮下芳名教授如今稱這一理念為“增強味覺”，他們已經改善了技術，使電荷能通過餐叉和筷子傳導入食物中去。“叉子的金屬部件是一個電極，手柄則是另一個電極，”中村解釋道：“當你叉起一塊食物放入嘴中時，電路接通，當你的叉子離開嘴巴時，電路斷開。事實上它的工作原理就像開關一樣。”

Munchies host Simon Klose, who recently visited Nakamura to try out the fork himself, called this form of ‘food hacking’ one of the most profound eating experiences he’s ever had. “When I first heard of electric food it sounded scary,” he said, in a 15-minute documentary clip about the special technology. He later proceeded to use a charged fork to eat pieces of fried chicken, and found that the saltiness considerably increased as the electricity was dialed up.

Munchies網站主辦人西蒙·克洛斯最近拜訪了中村，親自試用這款餐叉后，他表示這種“食品黑客”的形式是他最難忘的美食體驗之一。“當我第一次聽說通電食物時覺得特別可怕，”在15分鐘的紀錄片剪輯里他這樣評價這一特殊技術。之后，他開始用通電餐叉吃炸雞塊，他發現當電流接通時，食物明顯變咸。

“It’s so salty!” he says, after taking a bite. “This is cool. It’s almost sparking. It has a spicy fizziness. Like sparkling, carbonated chicken.”

“太咸啦！”他咬了一口之后說：“好酷啊，好像馬上就要冒火花了，還有一點辣，像碳化雞。”

Nakamura has been eating ‘electric’ food for the past three to four years, in an attempt to understand it better. “For me, food hacking is about augmenting or diminishing real food,” she said. “It may seem like we’re cooking but we’re actually working on the human senses. We are inventing devices to add electricity to the tongue. We’re trying to create virtual taste.”

過去的三至四年里，中村一直都在吃“通電食物”，試著更好地認識它。“對我來說，‘食物黑客’就是在強化或是削弱真正的食物，”她說：“表面上我們是在烹飪，實際上是在人類感官上做文章。我們在發明將電流輸入舌頭的設備，我們正試著創造出虛擬味道。”