As much as I enjoy eating, there are certain kinds of food that may taste great but are just too messy to consume. These include thick burgers, wraps, sandwiches, and especially burritos. I mean, I like eating them, but the fact that the ingredients fall off while I’m eating, most of the time on my dress, causes a lot of stress. There must be a way to keep all of it in and prevent them from bursting at the seams, especially if you’re trying to keep your outfit pristine while eating.
Designers: Tyler Guarino, Marie Eric, Rachel Nie, and Erin Walsh
A group of students from the John Hopkins University Engineering department faced this problem when consuming burritos. So they came up with a solution to this problem, bringing a prototype of something called Tastee Tape to help you keep all the ingredients in when consuming a burrito or a wrap. Basically, it’s an adhesive that you can wrap around your food to keep things like beans, rice, vegetables, etc., from dripping onto your clothes. I would have loved to help them test out these different prototypes on all kinds of food as they seemed to enjoy this part of the process.
To come up with this solution, they first studied how different kinds of adhesives work and the science behind it. After that, they looked for how they could make something edible since, of course, you don’t want to put something on food that can be harmful. They came up with something made from food-grade fibrous scaffold and then an edible organic adhesive that can melt in your mouth once you consume it. The result is something edible, safe, and strong enough that can be used on things like burritos, gyros, wraps, tacos, sandwiches, and other similar food.
The students are still in the process of applying for a patent for the Tastee Tape, so we won’t get details yet as to the actual components and “ingredients” that go into this edible tape. But we do get instructions on how to use it. After you tear off a strip from the sheet, you need to wet it completely before applying it to the food that you need to lock into the wrap. It seems to come in clear and blue colors, although the latter doesn’t look aesthetic when put on your food.
