Meals are supposed to be a communal experience.
Problem is, kitchens keep people tethered to one location, which limits who can help cook and, more importantly, who can eat the food that emerges from the kitchen.
Recognizing younger generations are often living in tiny apartments rather than houses, a group of students from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a way to bring the ancient act of eating into the 21st century.
Their creation: the BEAM system, a portable micro-kitchen designed with millennials in mind.
"It means they have some flexibility in their cooking," Peter Boatwright, co-director of Carnegie Mellon's Integrated Innovation Institute, tells Tech Insider. "They can take their cooktop to the swimming pool or the tailgate, and as long as they've got enough electricity, they've got a greater efficiency of use."
The BEAMbundle kit is comprised of several parts, including:
- BEAMbase - A cordless, flat heating surface, similar in size to an average cutting board, that contains an electromagnetic coil. Even if food is cooking, the surface won't be hot since the heat works by induction. It can also serve as a cutting board.
- BEAMbowls - Equipped with the same electromagnetic coils, the bowls can be used for cooking as well as eating; they also feature an organic non-stick coating.
- BEAMpro - A replacement to a blender or food processor, the BEAMpro attaches to the BEAMbowls like a lid for easy mixing.
The Integrated Innovation Institute partnered with the Jarden Corporation, which holds the patent on the system, to create the new cooking method. Together, they hope to move it out of the prototype stage at a suggested price of $149, though a timeline has not been set.
The CMU students have also laid out plans for an app, called SousChef, that integrates recipes with the cooking process.
For instance, instead of looking up a recipe and turning the stove to medium heat, users can browse recipes in SousChef, which they've either created themselves or found in the app's database, and touch a button on their phone to automatically set BEAM to the correct heat.The system can also allow for preset cooking times on individual dishes and schedule times for cooking multiple items.
All you do is press Start and walk away.
Boatwright says the possibilities are practically endless.
"If they're facing the countertop, often they're facing away from the people they're with," Boatwright says. "Wouldn't it be nice and turn around and put it on a table? That's interesting as a proposition. It's different."
