Le Whif ~ Le No Thanks

 

Ever feel like you could satisfy a strong chocolate craving with a chocolate inhaler instead of the real deal? Yeah, me neither.

Le Whif is a new breathable chocolate using an inhaler and organic cocoa powder. They come in three flavors, Pure Chocolate, Raspberry Chocolate, and Mint Chocolate. They have also created a coffee inhaler with the caffeine contents of a very light espresso.

From the website:

Invented by Harvard Professor David Edwards in collaboration with students, designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs working in Edwards' ArtScience Labs centered around Le Laboratoire, in Paris, Le Whif contains hundreds of Milligrams of tiny food Particles.

The lipstick size inhaler is made biodegradable poly-lactic acid making it safe to easily dispose of, and is designed to be spill proof.


The launch for this new chocolate inhaler took place last night at a restaurant in Harvard Sq. called Tory Row. Le Whif is gearing to to release their product in Paris as well as Tokyo and London. Le Whif is being sold at Cardullo's in Havard Sq. for $2 or via Le Whif's website.

While scientifically this is cool, this is a pretentious, and stupid device that takes away the joy of eating real chocolate. Why? Because we can't get over stupid body image issues and calorie counting and someone will always be there to exploit that. Le Whif is being promoted as "The taste of chocolate without the calories."

I shake my head because there is nothing better in the world than eating a fantastic piece of chocolate. Getting your fingers messy with chocolate is also part of the fun. Tasting the differences in cocoa percentages, letting it melt in your mouth, discovering new regions and flavors in origin chocolate, truffles, hot chocolate, chocolate sauces, bars, infused chocolates... It's a never ending journey. Not to mention it's mood enhancing, and dark chocolate is healthy for you.

Le nom de ce produit est très stupide. They really could have come up with a much better name for this silly novelty.

This product takes all the fun out of actually eating chocolate. It might taste good, I will still give it a try and fully review it when I can score one of these things, but I am not going to support it and tout it as good alternative to chocolate. Nothing will ever be better than the real thing.

Eat what you like, embrace real chocolate!

 

Here is a lightening review of Le Whif from Mark Wilson of Gizmodo.

The Verdict: The size of a container of Chapstick, you pull the telescoping Le Whif out to coat your entire tongue and mouth with a tiny amount of chocolate. The "essence" of chocolate, as it was described to me.

Words cannot capture the humiliation of inhaling a chocolate/raspberry Le Whif, then coughing the sugar out of my lungs, like a first time cigar smoker but even more pansy. (Supposedly the 80 to 300 micron chocolate pieces are too big to enter the lungs, so it's possible that I just sucked down a nasty coat of chocolate into my trachea.)

My second and third puffs, however, were more successful. The sensation is akin to sucking a tiny bit of cocoa powder through a straw. And while not necessarily enjoyable in any way, it was admittedly a lot of chocolate flavor for only .8 calories a stick.

A spokesman explained to me that just as Man had evolved from eating one meal a day, He's gone on to eat 2, 3 and then even a recommended 5. And under this logic, Man would eventually breathe food at all times. So Le Whif is working with a variety of French chefs to capture the essence of their dishes. If and when Le Whif releases inhalable foie gras, I might try again. Until then, I'll stick to good old fashioned overeating.

Comments

[Cooking Rookie]

I agree, it would only make me feel deprived, and increase the craving for the real thing :-).What is the next step for the scientist? To identify the hormone that is generated when you eat your favorite chocolate, and inject or inhale that directly :-)?