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(PNS reporting from GUANAJUATO, MX) Previously-secret startup MasaTek.com today unveiled a hardware/software combo that uses 3D printing to print corn or flour tortillas with the religious or brand image of your choice.
“The waiting is over!” Carlos Molinero, president of the Silicio Barrio company, told reporters here. “You need Jesus? He’s just a click away. La Virgen is always on deck!”
The WiFi-enabled printer is the size of a small microwave and has a hopper on top for masa. It uses open source 3D software, Molinero said, and is easily addressable with standard CAD tools.
There were “ooohs” and “aaaahs” as scantily-clad MasaTek spokesmodels passed out fresh, hot corn tortillas embossed with the images of La Virgen and Frida Kahlo to the audience (photo, above) while he spoke.
The tortilla printer, tentatively named the miMasa3000, is scheduled for a summer launch, with Molinero anticipating big Christmas sales in the fourth quarter. No price has been set for the product, but analysts think it will be a hit if it comes in under $200.
“Who doesn’t want hot fresh tortillas at a push of the button?” BoingBoing Mexitech reporter Zenia Jardinera told PNS. “And Frida! It’s a guin guin situation!”
Mexican food expert Rick Bayless “just hate[s] the idea,” he told PNS in an email. “No comal? How can I teach people the way Mexicans really live if I can’t pretend I’m the Great White Hope and it’s still 1800-something and Mexicans don’t hablo electricity?”
MasaTek is the second recent startup to exit “stealth mode” in Guanajuato, which is seeking to become Mexico’s Silicon Valley.
Chemtrail-spraying Deprador drones designed to fight Mexican bird flu, revealed in February, were also a product of the city’s growing high-tech Silicio Barrio startup culture.
Until recently, the Guanajuato region was known mostly for chicken farms and the production of guano and juato.
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