This article was taken from the September 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
For Christian Isberg and Petter Johansson, there's no such thing as too many cooks. The Stockholm-based designers, with programmer Lasse Korsgaard and chef Carl Berglöf, have built a machine that enables five people in different parts of the world to cook together -- with one major constraint: "They cannot communicate verbally or by text," explains Isberg, 28. Each participant is presented with a video stream of the machine and a list of 35 ingredients, alongside functions such as stirring and heat control.
They then take it in turns to make a selection; the machine's Wi-Fi-connected microprocessor then dispenses that ingredient into a heated container. "When one person adds water, then someone adds curry powder, that's where the dialogue starts to take shape," says Isberg. This inability to tell others what to do is, he suggests, an alien concept for the ego-driven culinary world. "When you collaborate in the kitchen, it's like directing: 'That's wrong, chop the mushrooms like this.' But we wanted to see what people could create together without an authority figure."
For the machine's first trial, two chefs in Stockholm used it to create a stew in front of a live London audience, who then tried the dish. "It tasted good," says Isberg, "but if you gave it to a professional chef who didn't know how it was produced, I think he'd have an interesting reaction." They're now planning an exhibition later this year that will mix up the collaborators. "What happens if you give the machine to a chef, two kids and a food critic? We want to open this up to as many people as possible."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
