Opinion | Columnists
When the gizmos strike back - in the kitchen
Everywhere you turn, in fact, every time you turn, a new kitchen gizmo is 'out' that promises to be the equivalent of a magic wand and drive the drudgery away from dining in.
- Special to Gulf News
- Published: 01:09 March 8, 2008
How difficult could it be, a neophyte in the galley may ask. Just put in the earplugs, listen to your favourite recipe on the iPod, turn on the food processor that chops and churns, slices and dices the chosen ingredients to any consistency you desire, then trundle out the latest in pressure cookers or Teflon-coated woks and a few sizzles and hisses later the meal is ready!
Everywhere you turn, in fact, every time you turn, a new kitchen gizmo is 'out' that promises to be the equivalent of a magic wand and drive the drudgery away from dining in.
There are housewives who constantly update their gizmos the routine way one would perhaps update the virus scan on the computer - but at a much higher cost!
"That old nonstick cookware had lost its coating, I was using way too much oil - altogether too expensive on a daily basis," I hear, to justify the exorbitant price paid for the set of dishes that promise to provide the taste of frying without using a drop of oil... or something on those lines!
And of course, the new juicer takes all the work out of squeezing - just peel and pop the fruit into it and voila, fresh ambrosia! As for the rice cooker, why it just about makes the meal itself - you name it, soup, stew, biryani, pilau, macaroni, it does it all!
And don't forget the microwave with conduction -cookies and bakes are a cakewalk with that one! It's liberation of a new kind! You're free to put your legs up, to read, even to visit your friends while your timer works for you.Tired of my old dishes, some of them older than I, having been 'inherited' from my mother's old-fashioned kitchen that time forgot, I traipsed into the market to finally bring a sheen to my workplace.
Missing bounce
A modern mixer, not a relic from the day we got married decades in the past, a water purifier that just needs to be plugged in and doesn't drip all over the floor like the old one did, a coffeemaker that gives a choice of espresso and freshly ground beans, and spikes the tea to a frothy concoction as well, a juicer for that fresh vegetable juice to add a glow to aging skin and the missing bounce to our step, the magical rice cooker, all that and more were on my list.
One by one, the gizmos found their way into the kitchen. What used to be a highly functional area, where the basics were done and nothing fancy was contemplated, now took on the look of a high-tech laboratory - all chrome and steel and white enamel.
Gadgets rubbed shoulders on the counter, practically squirming, waiting to be used. Instruction booklets piled up beside them but it was never the right time to learn how they functioned. For one who is tech-challenged enough not to know how to use the remote control to press 'Stop' on the music system and therefore dances her way through the entire cassette (yes, cassette, not CD), the equivalent of rocket science stared at me first thing each morning when I went into the kitchen to make tea!
"This has to be mastered," I decided. "I cannot let those inanimate things make me feel inadequate as I open my eyes!" And mastered they were! I slept in and the Master-of-the-House took to plodding in to get his own tea - and mine!
When the other meals began to go the way of the morning tea - never attempted, straight from the carton - he knew something had to be done. In one master stroke, all the offending gizmos were stuffed back into their original packing and stored out of sight. Better to cancel those losses than have a permanently missing missus of spices!
And I, no longer intimidated, crept back, pulled out the tried and tested blackened pots and pans, and went back to being the original food processor - of the galley slave variety!
Cheryl Rao is a journalist based in India.
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