I have a confession to make: I hate cooking. Usually, nuking a frozen meal for a few minutes in the microwave is about all the time and effort I'm able to give when it comes to preparing food to eat.
That's why I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to find myself so excited about the collection of new cooking gadgets on display at CES this year. Culinary innovations are not just about touchscreens and Bluetooth connectivity anymore. Startups are utilizing apps and robotics to make cooking easier so you can get to the goods faster.
I'm most excited about these three appliances I stumbled upon at CES this year. Here's why they actually make me excited about cooking and why they have the potential to change the way we cook forever.
1. PicoBrew Zymatic
The homebrewing trend is booming right now, and I have a feeling that the PicoBrew Zymatic is going to be a major player in all of that. This at-home automatic brewing appliance lets you brew two-and-a-half gallons of beer per batch. You can choose from more than 100 types of beer or create a custom brew. All you basically have to do is put in your ingredients, hook up your keg to the Zymatic, and you'll be sipping your very own brewski in no time.
2. Sereneti COOKI
Remember that part in Spy Kids (of course you do) when Carmen puts what looks like a popcorn packet into the microwave and out pops a Big Mac and fries? Well, the way the Sereneti COOKI makes food is not quite that good, but almost. This robotic cooking appliance does nearly all of the work for you. Just find the recipe you want to make on the smartphone app, load the appropriate pre-packaged trays of fresh food from Sereneti into the side of the COOKI and tap on your smartphone when you want your meal to start cooking. You can even schedule a time you want your meal ready by, and it'll be waiting for you to enjoy. Sereneti just launched its IndieGOGO campaign for the device, but once it's out in the market, meals are expected to cost about $4 to $5, which is much cheaper than ordering in, and the food will be much healthier, too.
3. Bonaverde
As much as we try, the coffee we make at home usually doesn't come close to cafe quality. That's why Bonaverde's coffee machine is a gamechanger. It's the first coffee machine to roast, grind and filter your coffee all in one. The coffee beans get roasted at the top of the machine, and once they're done they fall through a door into the grinder before being filtered. To get the whole process started, you just have to swipe the tag inside your coffee package, and your cup of joe will be on its way.
