Until this weekend, the words technology and kitchen were mutually exclusive to me. Now, I don’t mean technology in relation to a fridge or a dishwasher. I am talking about a phone or tablet and the integration of these devices into the process of choosing a dish to make for dinner, or trying to complete a recipe with the help of an app. That all changed after I attended the panel “My Robotic Kitchen Planned This Dinner Party” by Will Turnage and Mike Lee.
My approach to cooking has always been simplistic in that the process of creating a meal was very simple. Pick a main course, add some salt, pepper, maybe some evoo, a salad and call it a meal. The idea of taking a calculated and algorithmic approach to creating a meal, not only for myself, but for a dinner party was never really in the cards. But what these guys have been experimenting with and the niche they are solving, is a game changer. Without going into every detail, the premise of this platform is simple:
use dinner parties as a social event. Prepare the party by using a program that allows basic data to be entered and then returns a calculated plan for prep and delivery of an entire meal from appetizers to dessert. And enjoy with great company.
Simple, smart and in my mind… a game changer to the approach of myself and others as a chef and dinner host.
if you are interested in reading about the entire panel, and seeing the slides, I created a story line using tweets, photos and videos here: