Tag Archives: spoon

Diet-friendly electric spoon enhances saltiness in food without actual salt

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It’s almost too easy to take salt for granted these days given how common it is, but there was a time long ago when it was as valuable as gold. The role that salt and salty flavors play in our lives becomes all too apparent the moment we taste bland food, resulting in requesting for seasoning or, well, salt. Too much salt, however, put people’s health at risk, especially in cultures that lean towards very salty dishes. Replacing salt with healthier alternatives might just be a stopgap solution, so this innovative electric spoon simply tries to trick our tongues into tasting saltiness where there is barely any salt, allowing people to consume less salt without actual giving up their favorite flavor.

Designer: Kirin

Simple as it may look, our tongues are really complex systems of taste buds that may react different depending on their location and sensitivity to certain flavors. We’ve all been through science experiments related to the different areas of the tongue as well as how weak electrical currents, like those from a lemon, can affect our sense of taste. The latter is the principle behind this simple-looking electric salt spoon that aims to promote a healthier diet by reducing the amount of salt you need to use or consume just to get that salty flavor you love.

In a nutshell, the plastic and metal spoon passes a very weak electrical current on your tongue that tries to draw sodium ions that are normally dispersed and wasted, enhancing the salty flavor that would have otherwise been lost normally. This does mean that the salty flavor doesn’t just magically appear and there needs to still be some amount of salt in the dish for the magic to work. That said, the technology promises 1.5 times more saltiness, which mean you can use 1.5 times less salt to taste the same flavor. For a food culture like Japan that consumes 10g of salt daily, much higher than what the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends, that’s still a significant reduction.

The design of the spoon itself is pretty basic, and its large handle almost makes it look and feel like a child’s spoon. Operating the electric spoon is a simple matter of pressing a single button to turn it on and cycling through different electrical intensities. Amusingly, they recommend a proper way of holding the spoon and positioning your arm in order to maximize the effect of the weak current provided by a rechargeable lithium battery.

It might be a weird idea to be giving your tongue a tiny electrical shock to make food taste saltier, and the company behind the innovation promises it’s all within safe ranges. While it’s not going to make food magically taste better, the electric salt spoon offers a simpler, and somewhat more affordable way to enjoy low-salt diets without resorting to expensive salt alternatives.

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McDonalds ‘Outshines’ Tesla with their Metal “CyberSpoon” for the McFlurry

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Have you ever looked at the Cybertruck and thought “Hmmm… cutlery”? Apparently someone at McDonalds’ China Office did.

Limited to just 50,000 units, these spoons are only available in select McDonalds outlets across China. Created as a partnership between the golden arches company and Tesla’s China team, the Cyberspoon comes with its own storage tube that has “powered by Tesla” stamped on the end. Even Elon Musk dubbed it as a probable fake on X (formerly known as Twitter), only to realize it wasn’t a fan-made parody!

Designers: McDonalds & Tesla

The spoon comes stamped out of sheet metal, with the iconic geometric pattern popularized by the Cybertruck in 2019. The words “Don’t Panic” are etched onto the spoon’s stem, and the metallic piece of cutlery sports a brushed finish from top to bottom, quite like its inspiration.

This isn’t the first time Tesla’s Chinese operation has launched a weird Cyber-themed product. Earlier this year the automaker even announced a similarly angular cat nest made from cardboard. The spoon’s limited to a few thousand units, so getting your hands on them probably won’t be easy. Tesla’s Weibo account announced the Cyberspoon starting at just 30 yuan (around $4). If you’ve got more to spare, consider buying a Cyberwhistle instead…

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Electric bowl and spoon gives you salty taste without any salt

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One thing that I’ve been learning ever since I accepted that I am definitely getting older is that you can’t really eat everything that you liked eating when you were younger. High salt intake is one of the greatest enemies especially when you want to get healthy or you want to lose weight. But there are also times when you want your food to actually have a salty taste without actually using that much salt. A lot of healthy food taste delicious but are not really tasty.

Designer: Kirin

The good news for salt-lovers that are trying to cut back on real salt is that there are some food tech companies and product designers trying to get around this. Kirin in particular is developing a bowl and spoon that will give your food some taste when they come in contact with the utensils. But there is no salt that is used so the salt-like test should be good or at least not harmful to your health. Your taste buds and your heart will thank you.

How it works is that there is some sort of electricity on the surface of the bowl and spoon that releases ions when the food touches them. There are also metal strips on the tip of the spoon and the edge of the bowl and if you want to experience the full effect, you should eat from these areas. They bring a “pseudo perception” to your tongue that somehow triggers a salt-like taste and there are even four levels of intensity that you can get from these utensils.

If you’re worried about the effect of this “electricity” on your body, particularly your tongue, you need not worry as the current is “very weak” and should not electrocute you in any way. Unlike the previous “electric chopsticks” where you had to wear a separate attachment to enjoy the taste, the bowl and the spoon should work on their own, withe help of the circuit and battery that come with it. As to whether the taste can compare with actual salt, that remains to be seen, or rather, tasted.

The post Electric bowl and spoon gives you salty taste without any salt first appeared on Yanko Design.

Redefine and elevate your food + dining experience with these innovative cutlery designs!

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Some designs are timeless – look at spoon for example. The functionality and the form of the design are so tied in together, there is very little innovation needed to make this design successful. Or so we thought until we came across these cutlery designs by our favorite product designers!

Designed by Francesco Brunetti, the Disconnect series breaks down cutlery into its separate elements, but at the same time retains a sense of minimalism. The slick handle comes with a slim, cylindrical design and a matte-finish, while the functional end of the cutlery uses a balanced, geometric approach with a slight satin finish. The cutlery series was envisioned in silver, space grey, gold, and rose-gold, and I can’t really testify to whether it would be comfortable to use, but I’ll be damned if I don’t admit how incredibly eye-catching they are!

Chris Granneberg attacks the cutlery designed exercise as a way to improve the plastic usage habits across the world. ‘On the Go’ cutlery handles this problem from a different angle – helping you store these reusable utensils once they are dirty! The cutlery set comes with a small case that helps you store your soiled dinnerware so nothing gets dirty while on the go – after all, a tissue can only save your utensils once!

Have you ever felt that your meals required just a little more suspense? If yes, then Flyde by Felix Marx is for you! The name Flyde, meaning ‘To flow’ in Danish hints towards the unique selling point of this rather beautiful cutlery set, as it introduces an element of drama to the tabletop by precariously balancing on its sculpture-like handle.

The Celery cutlery set uses an almost inception-like simplicity to inspire the users to eat more vegetables. How do you ask? By replicating the minimal texture found on the celery stalks! The inspiration struck the designers whole by observing people dip their vegetable sticks into a dip before eating, bringing this beautiful bumpy texture of celery into their design and present it in a delicate and unobtrusive way onto spoon, fork, and knife.

Oh, Game of Thrones, whatever our take on the faults of the final season, one thing remains, we can’t ignore the series or the impact it had on our lives with hours of discussions, theories and lets not even get started on the number of inspired souvenirs I own! But all that is pushed aside with just one look at these elaborately crafted spoons, designed in collaboration between HBO and Magnum as a part of their limited-edition collection, with each design representing the houses that played a part in the show in an iconic manner. From the gleaming red and gold Lannister-worthy engraving to the stark fierceness of the northerners, each of these spoons completely defines the characteristics that made this series such an epic exercise in storytelling.

Get your camp-like vibes ongoing with Pierre Doucet’s cutlery design. The cutlery is designed to be exposed to a lot of wear and tear – and the thread that holds it all together can be easily replaced in case of tearing! Each piece of cutlery comes with a hole built into the design that allows you to tie it together, put it on a keyring, or even hang it to your belt using a carabiner – a cutlery set as rugged as you want it to be!

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Elegant and elegantly different, Nendo’s minimal cutlery design looks the way it does for a reason. The eye-catching scoop detail not only gives the cutlery visual character, but it also helps you rest/dock your spoons, forks, and knives easily on a rack, stand, or even against other cutlery. Designed for Belgian furniture and home accessories brand Valerie Objects, the cutlery series is aptly titled ‘skeleton’, after its bony, skeletal appearance.

Inspiration can strike anywhere, that much is clear after seeing FooDesigner’s KR Cutlery Set. For this design, he takes inspiration from the motif of the Korean flag. The design identity has been substituted into the long-standing Korean food culture.

Designed to spearhead the BYOC movement with cutlery that’s always together and with you, the Magware by Full Windsor uses a nifty magnetic system to combine spoon, fork, and knife into one single organized set. Rather than physically integrating pieces of cutlery into a single solution like the spork or the splade, Full Windsor simply attached magnets to them, giving you the ability to carry all your cutlery in a single, convenient unit. Magware (a magnetically attached portmanteau of the words magnets and flatware) allows you to carry separate pieces of cutlery, but together. The trio of flatware just snap together instantly, making sure you can easily carry all three pieces of cutlery in a unified set without accidentally forgetting one of them behind.

Inspired by the shape of leaves, Linden’s flatware boast of an organic design that embraces style more than a function-led form language. The cutlery kit comes with two spoons (a tablespoon and a dessert spoon), a fork, a knife, and a pair of chopsticks, packaged wonderfully in a steel case with a bamboo lid. The case is aptly sized to fit right into backpacks, making it easy to carry around, and the bamboo lid conveniently doubles up as a resting platform for the chopsticks when in use!

Titled the Pebble, these gorgeously vivid and funky cutlery tools are a collaboration between Pentatonic and i am OTHER, a creative collective assembled by Pharrell, and are made mostly from recycled materials. The unusually vibrant cutlery set is named after the pebble-shaped container it comes in. The colored container is made using plastic recycled from music CDs, and perfectly houses a spoon, knife, fork, a pair of chopsticks, and even a collapsible drinking straw. Plastic handles for the cutlery are crafted from recycled food packaging, while the cutlery themselves are crafted from steel, with a highly durable anodized titanium coating for strength as well as to give the cutlery their unmistakable vibrant purple hue. Talk about having a conversation starter!

This Spaghetti-inspired spoon brilliantly re-imagines the pasta shape with functionality!

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The various shapes of pasta we see today were all influenced directly by their region and the ingredients used in the pastas. Some pasta shapes were made hollow to hold sauce within them, some were created in the noodle format so as to be coated in the sauces. The shape of pasta is perhaps one of the best examples of form following function, and the guys at Monkey Business pushed the boundaries to give the pasta form some more functions! Meet the Spaghetti Spoon, created as a part of Monkey Business’s Pasta Series that envisions popular pasta shapes as kitchen tools. The Spaghetti Spoon, as its name suggests, is a spoon that’s designed to resemble strands of al-dente spaghetti. Created from heat-resistant plastic, the spoon’s uniquely appetizing shape is perfect for scooping and transferring any sort of noodle-based pasta between saucepans or serving plates. Just don’t try biting into it!

Designer: Avichai Tadmor (Monkey Business)

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Someone finally had the sense to build a spoon right into the jar’s lid!

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Splid. A simple combination of spoon and lid, the Splid is a remarkably sensible idea that ensures you never have to own five separate spoons (or repeatedly rinse the same spoon) if you want to dip into five separate jars! The metric teaspoon is built right into the Splid’s upper cover, hanging off the side. Built for dry-ingredients (I wouldn’t recommend storing jams and honey in the Splid), the jars are perfect for seasonings, herbs, coffee powder, tea-leaves, or even Parmesan cheese… basically dry-ingredients that need to be measured while cooking/preparation. That’s where the teaspoon comes handy, with its calculated dimensions.

“To use, simply lift or twist off SPLID & in one continuous motion – scoop up what you need, use it, & then replace back over the jar. No need for a fresh teaspoon each time”, says the designer behind the Splid. It’s a simple product that solves a simple problem that everyone’s probably secretly thought of but never tried to solve.

Designer: Paul Mathis for Future Projects Trust

Oddly shaped teaspoons that are perfect for hanging on the rim of your coffee-cups

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These spoons come with a weird hairpin bend for a good reason. If you’ve ever tried stirring sugar into your coffee or tea and then wondered where to put the spoon, never you mind! The spoons can either rest right inside your coffee cup, casually hanging off the rim, or can even rest on a table, with the scoop levitating in the air so you don’t leave a small pool of tea or coffee on your table’s surface. Just good old-fashioned clever thinking! The spoon comes in a set of 5 and can easily be hung off the rim of your crockery instead of being kept in your kitchen cabinets, or worse still, descending right to the bottom of your jar of honey.

Designer: Xstore

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Innovative tableware designs that turn eating into an experience: Part 2

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Spoons, forks, dishes… these are some classic designs that have remained standard ever since their invention. Or so we thought until we came across these innovative tableware designs! From a teapot that keeps your tea warm while you have those long conversations, an ergonomically efficient spice grinder to flowing plates that add a moment of zen to your table, these designs, when used, are sure to set your table apart to an extent where your cutlery ends up being the focus over the food! Check out our Part 1 of this collection to spice up your dinner table even more!

Tea for two is an easy-to-use tea set with 2 spouts on a pivoting base to keep the tea and conversation flowing by Mark Huang

The Ortwo models itself on the hand-grippers that we use to increase our gripping strength, giving you a new, single-handed way to crush pepper, salt, or other spices by Dreamfarm 

Doubloom is a darling spice canister set that adds a decorative touch to your kitchen by Wanki Kim 

The Pick-Up Lid lets you grab a pinch of seasoning from the glass receptacle without making any contact with the food by Nendo for Daikin

The storm tray from 24d-studio Design&Architecture 

Inspired by ever-shifting dunes, The Foundry by Tinkah set out to develop a material that tames the characteristics of desert sand into a moldable medium 

Folding Tableware by Zhou Buyi is stacked up from top to bottom, flowing with aesthetic feeling. Lines are made up of 1:2:3 ratios, in geometric progression 

This Cutlery Design has utensils made from black matte steel and inset into wood handling by Saad Syed (emrgnce)

The Outlery Cutlery is a three-part kit that screws on in a jiffy and can be used on the go. Easy to clean and maintain, just carry a box on you, wherever you go by Outlery 

This family of products designed for Virgin Atlantic consists of everything from the cutlery through to the cupholders, with every single element of the experience receiving a new lease of life by Youmeus Design 

Teapot designed by Jose Carlos 

We should have been using this bamboo-based cutlery all along

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As someone who does his fair share of takeout, perhaps the one thing I hate with a vengeance is the flimsy, horribly designed plastic cutlery I get with my food. The spoons sometimes come with these plastic flares that get left behind from the cheap injection molding process, the knives are more flexible than the food I’m cutting, and the forks don’t possess enough structural integrity to pierce my food. All that’s aside from the fact that this cutlery eventually reaches either a landfill or the ocean by the tonne, not having served any purpose whatsoever. The sad reality is that we’re far from democratizing a solution that actually works… but with projects like the Knork Eco, we’re getting a few steps closer to conscientiously designing single-use (or even multiple-use) plastic cutlery that has little to no impact on the environment.

The Knork Eco has a pretty transparent objective. To A. remove non-biodegradable single-use plastics from our life-cycle, and to B. replace them with cutlery that’s eco-friendly, biodegradable, and more importantly, much more robust and comfortable to use than those horrible disposable forks and spoons. The Knorks are made from a specialized material called Astrik, which combines sugarcane starch along with bamboo fibers. The result is a moldable polymer that’s sturdy, looks and feels like glossy plastic, is food-safe, dishwasher safe, and can biodegrade in 2 years. Most importantly, sugarcane and bamboo are two of the fastest growing plants in the world, allowing Astrik as a material to cater to the incredibly high demand of disposable cutlery without any hassle.

The Knork Eco is a spoon+fork set made from Astrik. It looks and feels exactly like plastic, and can do everything plastic can. The Knork cutlery comes in its own chic case made from the bamboo-polymer too, allowing you to easily carry it around with you wherever you go, because the Knorks are much more reliable and robust than most plastic spoons and forks. They come with a larger cross-section, making them thicker and stiffer, and even integrate a broader handle with a finger-rest, allowing you to use them with the dexterity of metal cutlery.

The Knorks can cleaned either manually or in a dishwasher, and can be infinitely reused until you dispose them. When introduced to the soil, the Astrik material biodegrades completely in just 2 years, turning into compost that can then be used to grow more plants, making it perhaps the best example of nature-conscious cradle-to-grave designing with zero negative impact. Yes I said it, we should have been using this bamboo-based cutlery all along!

Designer: KNORK Flatware

Click Here to Buy Now: $15 $30 (50% off). Hurry, only 3 Days left!

The KNORK Eco is a plant-based bamboo utensils that are dishwasher safe, compost in 2 years, and sustainably made. Genius design meets epic functionality.

KNORK Eco uses Astrik: Made from PLA (poly lactic acid – sugar cane starch 90%) and bamboo fiber (10%), this eco-friendly and responsibly sourced material provides a workable, multi-functional + sustainable alternative to harmful one-use plastic utensils.

The designers have thinned and improved the tines, and added a platform right where your index finger typically rests when doing the aforementioned side-tipping action. These help the user to rock through and cut most foods without reaching for a knife, and the contoured handle fits comfortably in most hands and creates an ergonomic balance.

Eco pieces will fit many specific niche market opportunities where the functionality encourages creative freedom for chefs in environments where use of a knife isn’t feasible.

The combination of clever design and a dishwasher-safe, durable, and 2 year compost-able material was exactly what we had been looking for, and the Eco line was born.

If you love food and eating as much as we do, you’ll totally get that the one constant of American style eating is the natural born habit of people to tip forks on their sides to cut through foods that it’s not necessarily normal to reach for a knife to eat. Think waffles, pancakes, chicken, burritos, coney dogs, etc.

KNORK is perfect for multi-tasking, on the go eating-think desk lunches or cocktail parties where the ultimate challenge is to hold your drink in one hand while trying to eat with the other.

The stainless steel fork and spoon that fit into the new carrying case will feature a limited edition “Eco” stamp, so you know just which pieces to reach for when packing your lunch!

Click Here to Buy Now: $15 $30 (50% off). Hurry, only 3 Days left!

10 Best Father’s Day 2017 Gifts Under $20

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Father’s Day 2017 is coming up in just a few short weeks! Before you start freaking out, frantically looking for a gift to buy, have a look at this list of ten great Father’s Day gifts under $20! That’s right, under $20. No need to spend a fortune on something your dad will absolutely love.

Dad’s Ice Cream Killer Spoon


Ah, the dad bod. We have all seen it, we have all wanted to avoid having it, and yet, men everywhere achieve it. Probably through killing too much ice cream. Sigh. At least it tastes good. Give your dad his ice cream killing weapon, the ice cream killer spoon, and listen to all the ice cream scream.

Guitar Picks

Image via: Etsy
I know a lot of dads who play the guitar. Of course, they’re not always great at it, but give them these guitar picks to help them practice and become the next big thing in the music world. The guitar pick case can also be personalized and you can choose any letter you’d like! I hope your dad becomes a rock star.

Father’s Day Personalized Hammer


I know I’ve always relied on my dad to fix things for me, from computers to mp3 players, to installing new light bulbs, my dad has fixed everything. If your father is a handyman like mine, get him one of these hammers with a personal message. It’s a useful and touching gift. If your dad is like mine, he’ll definitely appreciate a practical gift.

Father Poster


Okay, I’ll admit this gift is probably going to be cuter to all the mom’s out there rather than dads, but your dad will still find this personalized poster super cute, and he’ll, of course, love making his wife happy by hanging this up on the wall, right next to the mother poster of course. It can be personalized as well, so put your father’s name on it!

Personalized Mug


This mug is so adorable! I’m a huge fan of the font. It’s so modern, simple, sleek, and fun. If you’re looking for an easy, yet still a wonderful gift, this is the mug to buy. Another thing I like about it is that it doesn’t look like a plain old novelty gift. It looks like a mug that any dad would actually be proud to use!

Children’s Personalized Engraved Dog Tag


To me, this is one of the most meaningful gifts that I think dads will treasure for a long time. Young children can sketch a doodle of their father and have it engraved on this personalized dog tag. Older children can write messages as well. This will last a lifetime, and I think that’s the greatest thing ever.

Beard Oil Sampler


I myself am not the biggest fan of facial hair, but for all the dads who love to rock beards, why not get them something to keep their beards looking clean and handsome? This beard oil sampler will give your father a little taste of beard grooming, and if he likes it, get him an even bigger kit!

Papasaurus T-Shirt


Papasaurus Rex is in the house! Dads and I share something in common, we like dad humor. I think this t-shirt is hilarious, and I hope your dad will think it’s hilarious too! If not, what kind of dad is he? I thought dad jokes were a universal thing.

Personalized Wallet


Who doesn’t love something that’s nice and personal? Those are the most heartfelt kind of gifts. This personalized wallet can hold whatever small message you’d like. Tell your dad you love him, or whatever else you want to say. It will mean a lot to him, and he can keep money in this little wallet.

Soap


Homemade soap. It smells amazing and feels amazing too. After a long, tough day at work, treat your dad to a nice bar of soap for his long-awaited relaxing shower. There are plenty of scents to choose from, so there is something for every dad out there.

Did you find a Father’s Day gift that you loved? Something that your dad will cherish forever? There’s plenty of more gifts out there, so keep looking until you find that perfect gift he’ll never forget.