By:  Dr. Gary Pusillo

Apple’s new I-Pad is paving the way for I-Food Pad; you look at it, smell it, and taste it by licking the especially designed lick pad or monitor. The actual nourishment from the food will come from tiny micro pills and molecular nutrients dispensed from a device similar to a printing machine.

With the new virtual food pad, people will design an entire meal; download the molecular sized nutrient s and micro pills onto edible paper, and then feast on their imagination.

Virtual food pads will have “molecular food cartridges” that can be purchased like printer ink.

Now when hunger disrupts a long plane ride, just type in the recipe and an entire meal will be available in seconds. Food software will become more important than grocery stores.

I just do not eat food for nourishment, I love good food. I love how wonderful ingredients complement each other and how the flavors bathe my taste buds with an emotional message of mom’s cooking. I crave the texture and aroma of my wife’s cheese cake.

Food is more than life sustaining, it is life enhancing. Food brings us joys we cannot find anywhere else. This is not always true with pet foods; most of the pleasure of eating it is only virtual; TV commercials, slick packaging and wonderful displays.

Apple might replace the book with an electronic version, but I will still covet my families bible passed on for generations; my grandmothers’ first grade spelling book from the 1890’s and my collection of original hand printed medical books from the 18^th century.

Books have weight, character and a physical presence. They can be used to sit children on at the table, keep doors from slamming shut and for throwing at a mouse eating under the kitchen table.

The words on a page can be made virtual, but the entirety of the experience of a book can never be duplicated.

Food is on its way to becoming virtual, I see it in pet stores all the time. The bags of products are now more nutritious than the actual pet food inside.

Apple has competition if they are going to invent the virtual IPetFood Pad since many pet food manufacturers already have a head start. If you think I am drinking non virtual whisky, just watch the beautiful TV commercials and then go out and taste one of the advertised pet products. You might as well lick the TV set, it tastes better.

I will keep my books, eat real food and feed my animals fresh real whole foods that nourish them completely.