Could IBM Help You Make Thanksgiving Dinner?

We all get tired of using the same old recipes time and time again. While a small number of our oft-repeated recipes may be favorites, a large number of them tend to be old standbys. We know how to make them and they don’t taste awful, but we surely don’t love them. And, wouldn’t it be nice to make better food at a lower price? And what if you could drastically eliminate your personal food waste while you’re at it?

 IBM’s supercomputer — Watson — might just have the answer to serving up new, healthier food and assisting you in cutting costs and reducing waste.

 The kitchen is the perfect big data platform. For a computer that’s already worked on taking down cancer, improving the kitchen doesn’t seem like too much of a task. However, the impact that Watson could have in the kitchen, might prove to be equally important to improving individuals’ health and food enjoyment.

 Watson, and big data in general, derive their success from the ability to gather, store and analyze huge amounts of data — amounts that couldn’t be used any other way. With that in mind, IBM and other big data companies are betting that this technology can make for smarter cooks, better kitchens and better food.

 Here’s how big data will change the kitchen as we know it.

 New recipes

We all get tired of having the same meals over and over again. With big data technology it will be easier than ever to put new meals on the table. And it’s not just new meals that big data is putting on the table. It’s healthier meals too.

 One of the biggest problems with today’s kitchen is the amount of high sugar and high fat food. While it may be tasty, that kind of food certainly isn’t going to give you the nutrients your body needs to function at it’s best. Fortunately, with big data, people can get more meals they love with more nutrients than ever before.

 Speed

In today’s fast-paced world, it seems harder than ever to find time to slow down and enjoy a home-cooked meal. Yet, taking that time can be an important refresher for most of us. With big data, individuals can get the best of both worlds — a quality, home-cooked meal, that doesn’t take long to prepare. With it’s analytical capabilities, big data can make preparing a meal easier and speedier than ever.

 Waste

Another drawback that many of us face with home-cooked meals, especially meals we haven’t tried before, is waste. There tends to be a large amount of waste that comes, either from getting too many ingredients, making too much, overcooking or undercooking the food or forgetting some kind of ingredient or other. With big data it will be easier than ever to create meals with low waste. Food buying will be more precise as will food preparation. Big data too can tailor it’s meal suggestions to what we already have — no more ignoring what’s in the fridge and pantry already.

 Appliances

Big data, to a small extent, is already making its way into the kitchen appliance industry and it’s only going to grow from here. There will be numerous benefits to appliances with big data, including increased speed, efficiency, predictive capabilities and other skills.

That combined with technologies in phones, tablets and computers to monitor health, mean that big data can recommend recipes to you based on your workout levels, sugar levels, heart rate levels, overall eating habits and many more characteristics.The potential is astounding.

 Big data is making its way into the kitchen, and will soon be into yours. As it’s done in so many different industries, big data is making cooking easier, quicker, more healthful and more personalized.

~ Rick Delgado