SXSW: Making the kitchen smarter

Known for bringing tens of thousands of the most innovative people in technology from around the world, the recent SXSW Interactive conference featured sessions covering an array of topics—from health and government to design and branding. The conference also tackled the intersection of food and tech in specialized sessions that took place March 11–13 in Austin, Texas’ Driskill hotel. While the notable speakers discussed everything from genetic engineering to sous vide and smart kitchens, some common themes shown through. Here’s a look at what some of the industry experts predict for the future of cooking. Also, stay tuned to the next few editions of The Weekly newsletter for more coverage from SXSW 2017.

The Smart Kitchen
In this panel session, Vivian Barad, director in IDEO’s Design for Food Studio, Lisa Fetterman, founder and CEO of Nomiku, and author Michael Wolf explored some of the hardware and software innovations coming to the home and commercial kitchens that will revolutionize how we cook. Fetterman, developer of Nomiku—an at-home sous vide device, sees sous vide as the next microwave. As she explained, microwave oven usage soared in the 1970s, outpacing the adoption rate of our modern-day cell phone and internet. And yet today, Fetterman stated that at-home sous vide machines are “the fastest growing kitchen appliance ever” growing 2.5x annually since 2012.

Outside of specific appliances, the speakers agreed that in order for technology to take off in the kitchen, it needs to allow the user to “get creative and experiment in the kitchen,” said Barad. “It [the smart kitchen] has to help you learn and not be prescriptive.” After all, there has been a lot of kitchen gadgetry introduced through the years that have left people wondering, “why do we need this?” As Barad expressed, any cooking innovation needs to address the issue of getting people back into the kitchen and cooking for themselves. They also need to be thoughtful and well-considered. As a former chef, Fetterman believes that new technology must “grow with you and empower you as a cook.”

Sometimes the best tools are the simplest, as Barad explained. She then shared the example of the design for the OXO Good Grips kitchen tools that have bigger grips to enable older consumers with joint problems to be self-sufficient in the kitchen again. Innovations like this, Barad said, often end up being better for everyone and become universally adopted.

On the other side of the spectrum, the technology that allows consumers to analyze their food for gluten and other potential allergens is advancing rapidly and will certainly have a place in the new kitchen. The panel concluded the session by cautioning the attendees against developing technology that is elitist and expensive. Keep the larger issues, such as food access and food waste in mind, Barad and Fetterman advised.

In the March 29th edition of The Weekly newsletter, we’ll explore how SXSW panelists aim to solve the food access issue with microbes.