Japanese bakery's mind-boggling 'AI Romance Bread' is encouraging people to give love a chance

Valentine’s Day usually brings out two sides of people, the love birds and the love-aversing population. While the former was all set to ring their romance, dances, brunches, lunches and more, the latter made plans to sleep in, read a novel or focus on themselves. While it isn’t all that bad, the Kimuraya bakery in Japan has other plans for the love-averse youth. The bakery has come up with an ingenious collaboration with the NEC Corps, per CNN. The duo are using their talent and technology to give the single and love-devoid category a taste of what love feels like through their special delicacy.

The thought stemmed after Kimuraya, the country’s oldest bakery, figured that many youths are not interested in romantic relationships for varied reasons. Though they wished to have all the experiences and feelings, something was stopping them from giving it a shot. Kimuraya and NEC Corps then teamed up to create what they’re calling the “Ren AI Pan,” which means “AI Romance Bread.” The dish aims to capture the different feelings love brings through 5 different flavors. The references are taken from a reality show to create flavors that represent the first encounter, the first date, jealousy, heartbreak and mutual love. No better way to ensure “something for everyone.”

The AI process was quite intellectual, one may say considering the process of assigning a flavor to a feeling. The technology collected references from reality TV shows for traces of what it feels like to fall in love and also collected several songs and lyrics related to the same. These were then given an emotional score, which helped categorize and sign a feeling and a flavor. “Fateful Encounter” bread has a cotton candy flavor to reveal the excitement, anticipation and light feeling. The “First Date” has a citrus flavor with lime and orange to evoke that zing and electric waves or butterflies one feels. “Jealousy” has a sweet potato, truffle oil and raisin flavor.

“Mutual Love” has a calm, soothing and mesmerizing peach and dragon fruit flavor to reveal the comfort love brings. “The selection of ingredients was done by AI, but our role was to make them into bread. We paid attention to the colors used to express romantic emotions visually and aimed for a vibrant and pop appearance for Love Bread,” said Yuki Kitazawa, a developer at Kimuraya bakery. The bread went on sale at the bakery and several supermarkets on February 1 and hopes to change the perception of youth.

The idea behind the delicious creation is that youth would try the various flavors and would resonate and feel the associated feelings. The feelings, in turn, would work as a reinforcer for them to go one step ahead and get practical for the sake of their love life. The AI Romance Bread aims to help break that barrier that stops youth from experiencing love at its rawest, best and most versatile forms. NEC Corps and Kimuraya shared pictures of their new and mesmerizing creations on Instagram and from the looks of it, they’re surely worth a try.