Scaling Back

I heard about Le Whif on the radio recently and then saw it picked up by coolhunting earlier this month.  What sounds like a really cool innovation, feels like a shocking tease, which would ultimately be a wholly unsatisfactory experience. In essence, Le Whif is a “chocolate inhaler” (but’ I’m a chocolate inhaler, I hear you say…), which shoots micro fine chocolate molecules into your mouth to give you the sensation/flavor of eating chocolate without the calories of actually doing so. These molecules are small enough to prevent choking, which is nice.

According to its inventors, Le Whif is based on the idea that we’re eating smaller and smaller quantities at shorter and shorter intervals and this is the natural extension of that…food that you can breathe in, rather than chew and savor. First, I think the founding insight is flawed…we’re not eating smaller quantities, our portions are too big, so this doesn’t fit with the trend, but runs counter to it (which in this case is OK). However, where it misses the mark most, is that when you reduce portion size, you must increase intensity of experience to replace the volume loss. Le Whif cuts the enjoyment both ways, so what you’re left with is just chocolate air.  I’d guess that after one toot on Le Whif, you’d be gagging for a big ol bar of chocolate, the ultimate tease.