The ways we’ve learned about, cultivated, sourced, prepared, gathered, and shared food has consistently evolved since time immemorial. There’s no question that modern technology plays a massive role in our lives now. The vast majority of us spend upwards of 4 hours per day staring at a screen, and that doesn’t stop when we enter the kitchen.
1. Smartphones: Say Hello to Food Photography and Videography
Back in the day, if you wanted to take a picture of your food, you had to use a bulky camera. It made things difficult to capture the spontaneity of cooking; by the time you got the camera out, the moment was often gone. But with smartphones, anyone can be a food photographer. Just grab your smartphone and snap away.
It has changed how we cook, as we can now document and share our recipes easily. There are even social media platforms devoted to food porn, where people can drool over dishes from around the world. Social media, therefore, is the single most powerful advancer of food culture from a social and dietary perspective. If you have ever snapped a picture of your meal and sharedit online, you are not alone. According to a recent survey, one third of people have – and that advances and promotes food culture, and inevitably how we behave and interact with our own cooking practices, and our kitchens.
2. Appliances: Not Your Grandmother’s Fridge
Appliances allow us to cook. The technology we have access to today isn’t just some of the most efficient we’ve ever had access to, it’s also some of the fastest, the most delicate, and the most powerful — and there’s a huge push to further integrate our appliances and how we cook, with our social media and entertainment platforms.
As technology advances, many appliance companies are quickly incorporating tech’s newest offerings in their products. Now, smart kettles can start boiling your tea when you tap a button on an app, some toasters can now defrost and reheat foods, and microwaves can now grill, defrost, and some feature convection technology so you can use them as ovens.
3. The Internet Giving Easy Access to Myriads of Recipes
The Internet has made it possible to find recipes from around the world, impacting how ordinary households explore new recipes. With just a few clicks, you can find recipes from any cuisine imaginable. This global access to information has changed how we cook at home, making it easier to try new things.
One of the great things about having so many recipes at our fingertips is that we can now be more adventurous with our cooking. Instead of sticking to the same old dishes week after week, we can explore cuisines from all over the globe. As more people travel, we are exposed to even more culinary traditions. All of this allows us to experiment with new flavors and ingredients, making our home cooking more exciting than ever before.
New technology is allowing us to track, critique and shape the modern food industry, as well as the ways we prepare food in our own homes. It’s uniting, us, helping us explore our world and develop new perceptions of differing cultures.
