By P Chong                            10 April 2010

I wonder whether we “live to eat or eat to live”.

Whatever, eating is an integral part of life. Eating is life’s pleasure & variety is the spice of life. Its pleasure has increased progressively & abundantly with the availability of global foods, food technology, cooking facilities & amenities.

For the gourmet group, not only do they derive pleasure from eating, they also indulge in cooking shows or demonstrations by qualified chefs. No doubt too the same goes for the average consumers. Not knowing to cook well does not handicap lots of eager hands willing & ready to learn & attempt. Food need not be expensive nor exclusive . . . for the test is in the eating. To a large extent, it depends upon food preparation & cooking.

To quote the words of Marcel Boulestin, chef & food writer (1878 – 1943):

“. . . the pleasure of eating something because it is expensive has absolutely nothing to do with the taste of good cuisine.”

Food lovers have been known to savour every known restaurant in town and some sticking on to their favourite haunts. Another category of people I know collect recipes but never really achieving anything out of the habit. What if there is a machine – a mechanical device . . . an automatic cooking robot to cook your favourite dishes? This is not just a concept or a futile dream in our modern day life style, where convenience & labour saving are so priceless.

Yes! Your dream is a reality today. In Yangzhou, east China’s Jiangsu province, the students from Yangzhou University have made this possible. It’s developed jointly by Shanghai Jiatong University in conjunction with an enterprise from Shenzhen.

In a report by CCTV on April 7, 2010, the university students demonstrated the culinary skills of their newly invented “Automatic Cooking Robot”. It can cook like any professional chef, and not just one dish, but a host of 600 kinds of dishes.

One lady friend of mine Amy has this to say: “I shall apply for redundancy payment from Nigel and offer him this?”

Another food enthusiast Martin was saying: “I am not sure how this is done. But it does sound like a great idea in western society where food is more expensive. Asian markets have hawkers and it is so economical to eat out. Good idea for the future.”

Students from Yangzhou University operate an automatic cooking robot in Yangzhou, east China’s Jiangsu Province, April 7, 2010. (Picture: Xinhua/Zhao Jun)

Come & taste

Then have your say!