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Reminds me of when microwaves first came out. Investors decided to go all in on "vibe cooking" (lit. cooking with vibrations) complete with microwave ranges (no

by argee 5mo ago

Reminds me of when microwaves first came out. Investors decided to go all in on "vibe cooking" (lit. cooking with vibrations) complete with microwave ranges (no conventional oven), until the public wizened up to the fact that there was in fact no cooking (Maillard reaction) involved in their vibe cooking. Took about 15-20 years but microwaves finally took their rightful place as a utility appliance rather than what they were touted as (a centerpiece). Pick up a microwave cookbook from the 50s for some laughs.

nunez 5mo ago
There are still cooking functions on microwaves! And they still come with recipe books!
- lazide 5mo ago
  Hope never dies.
abalashov 5mo ago
This is an unexpectedly apt comparison, and I appreciated it.
altmanaltman 5mo ago
[flagged]
usef- 5mo ago
I sure hope you're not mocking the classic "Microwave cooking for one" book! The mallard reaction is very possible in microwaves, but they use microwave-specific crockery. I think the vision was possibly killed by people not wanting to maintain a second set of crockery. See here for a fun write-up: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8m6AM5qtPMjgTkEeD/my-journey-to-the-microwave-alternate-timeline https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8m6AM5qtPMjgTkEeD/my-journey...
- ghaff 5mo ago
  But I think the argument that microwaves are basically for heating things up and for essentially steaming a lot of vegetables. (I'll do one ear of corn in the microwave with pepper and spices.) I do have a thick microwave cookbook from the 70s or 80s but I've mostly only ever used it for vegetable cooking times. And probably less since I started roasting vegetables in the oven a lot of the time. I have cooked some of the other recipes but not for a very long time. Understand that a lot of people don't have a lot of choice but I use mine (actually have a 4 in 1 when I had to replace the old one after it burst into flames and that's somewhat useful as a second oven).
- argee 5mo ago
  That book came out much later than what I am talking about, when many workarounds like turn tables (and indeed, specialized crockery) were made available. This thing [0] for example, did not even have a turn table, and yet was created in an "all in" form factor for the American home. It was in production for nine years. Perhaps we can liken these auxiliary advances to agents and harnesses in the analogy. In the end, despite the unbridled optimism from certain backers, we never solved the fundamental issue with microwaves: that they use electromagnetic waves for cooking, and that electromagnetic waves have certain undesirable properties for this application. [0] https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1088040 https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_10880...
  - refulgentis 5mo ago
    Workarounds such as turntables. Good lord.
  - u_fucking_dork 5mo ago
    They sure are great for reheating food though. The problem is that a lot of developers think they are Michelin chefs when in reality they are Olive Garden cooks reheating frozen meals.
locao 5mo ago
This is a very good comparison, I'll be using it. It just made me realize why I don't have those found memories of my mom's cooking. When we got our first microwave she went full on the vibe cooking and took years to realize how dumb it was. I hope my kid doesn't get the same kind of memories about my weekend projects.
platevoltage 5mo ago
I like this analogy. Maybe microwaves put a few line cooks out of the job, but it didn't replace traditional cooking at all.
rootnod3 5mo ago
And same as vibe coding, microwaves just reheat old stuff and create bland food.
rcxdude 5mo ago
The Maillard reaction is not the be all and end all of cooking, mind.

by argee 5mo ago

nunez 5mo ago

There are still cooking functions on microwaves! And they still come with recipe books!

lazide 5mo ago
Hope never dies.

abalashov 5mo ago

This is an unexpectedly apt comparison, and I appreciated it.

altmanaltman 5mo ago

[flagged]

usef- 5mo ago

I sure hope you're not mocking the classic "Microwave cooking for one" book! The mallard reaction is very possible in microwaves, but they use microwave-specific crockery. I think the vision was possibly killed by people not wanting to maintain a second set of crockery. See here for a fun write-up: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8m6AM5qtPMjgTkEeD/my-journey-to-the-microwave-alternate-timeline https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8m6AM5qtPMjgTkEeD/my-journey...

ghaff 5mo ago
But I think the argument that microwaves are basically for heating things up and for essentially steaming a lot of vegetables. (I'll do one ear of corn in the microwave with pepper and spices.) I do have a thick microwave cookbook from the 70s or 80s but I've mostly only ever used it for vegetable cooking times. And probably less since I started roasting vegetables in the oven a lot of the time. I have cooked some of the other recipes but not for a very long time. Understand that a lot of people don't have a lot of choice but I use mine (actually have a 4 in 1 when I had to replace the old one after it burst into flames and that's somewhat useful as a second oven).
argee 5mo ago
That book came out much later than what I am talking about, when many workarounds like turn tables (and indeed, specialized crockery) were made available. This thing [0] for example, did not even have a turn table, and yet was created in an "all in" form factor for the American home. It was in production for nine years. Perhaps we can liken these auxiliary advances to agents and harnesses in the analogy. In the end, despite the unbridled optimism from certain backers, we never solved the fundamental issue with microwaves: that they use electromagnetic waves for cooking, and that electromagnetic waves have certain undesirable properties for this application. [0] https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1088040 https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_10880...
- refulgentis 5mo ago
  Workarounds such as turntables. Good lord.
- u_fucking_dork 5mo ago
  They sure are great for reheating food though. The problem is that a lot of developers think they are Michelin chefs when in reality they are Olive Garden cooks reheating frozen meals.

locao 5mo ago

This is a very good comparison, I'll be using it. It just made me realize why I don't have those found memories of my mom's cooking. When we got our first microwave she went full on the vibe cooking and took years to realize how dumb it was. I hope my kid doesn't get the same kind of memories about my weekend projects.

platevoltage 5mo ago

I like this analogy. Maybe microwaves put a few line cooks out of the job, but it didn't replace traditional cooking at all.

rootnod3 5mo ago

And same as vibe coding, microwaves just reheat old stuff and create bland food.

rcxdude 5mo ago

The Maillard reaction is not the be all and end all of cooking, mind.