Don Ladanyi was enjoying a steak dinner with his girlfriend when he happened upon a challenge. She claimed her meal tasted better than his because she was eating with chopsticks rather than a fork.

So Ladanyi, a biomedical engineer, started researching the interactions between food and metal. Three years and lots of trials later, he’d developed TruFlavorWare, durable, tasteless utensils made from a blend of natural materials.

But the biggest discovery may not have been his. While testing TruFlavorWare at a private university, researchers told Ladanyi of the product’s immense potential for chemotherapy patients.

When metal touches acidic food such as meat, ions are released that alter your taste, which is especially problematic for chemotherapy patients with depressed appetites and heightened senses. “If you could put special glasses on, it would look like a kid’s sparkler,” Ladanyi says.

In August, TruFlavorWare won the first Cool Idea! Award from Protolabs, a Minnesota prototype company.

“Now that we have product in hand ready to ship, we’re figuring out which medical centers to visit [and] send the flatware to for their chemotherapy patients,” says Ladanyi.

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