Everyone's had a go at assembling some flatpack furniture, next on the menu – flatpack meals.
These pasta shapes were caused by immersing a 2D flat film into water Photo: (Michael Indresano Production and MIT News)
Flatpack food would be transported in flat sheets and – even better – assembles itself into the shape you want, no screws, instructions or Allen keys needed.
It's the idea of some researchers at MIT who are trying to save on food transport costs by making meals from pasta (and other foods) that can transform from something that looks like a flat sheet of lasagne into macaroni just by adding water.
"We did some simple calculations, such as for macaroni pasta, and even if you pack it perfectly, you still will end up with 67 percent of the volume as air. We thought maybe in the future our shape-changing food could be packed flat and save space" - Researcher Wen Wang, a former graduate student and research scientist in MIT's Media Lab
