Virtual Reality Remote Tasting Might Be Coming Soon

This tiny instrument lets users taste things—without actually eating them—by releasing a combination of chemicals that reconstruct different tastes. But replicating associated smells and textures will take some time

For users, the way e-Taste works is simple. You hold the strip in your mouth, with the cube dangling outside. When the sensors inside the cube detects a food object (for example, the “Stegosaurus’s Favorite Food”) in the virtual environment, e-Taste releases a combination of chemicals that simulate five different tastes—salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami—replicating the experience of taste without requiring you to actually eat anything.

Inside, the cube has small, refillable packs of liquid chemicals that are combined in different amounts to produce specific tastes. In the case of the imaginary fruit, for example, glucose and citric acid would be used.