Send message to Author

Paper short abstract:

The domestic kitchen is not usually considered a field of pioneering technoscientific development. Neither is everyday cooking considered a practice of radical transformation. In this proposed paper I argue against these common-sense assumptions.

Paper long abstract:

The domestic kitchen is not usually considered a field of pioneering technoscientific development. Neither is everyday cooking considered a practice of radical transformation. In this proposed paper I argue against these common-sense assumptions. Based on ongoing ethnographic research in domestic kitchens in Germany, I explore the interaction between humans and machines in everyday practices of food provisioning, preparation and eating. While digital kitchen robots like Thermomix/Bimby are perhaps more obvious companions to domestic cooks but less common, smartphones should also be considered as ominpresent kitchen appliances. In the hands of the cook, both technologies contribute to transforming not only domestic cooking practices but the entire food market. It is no accident that when domestic cooking and eating surged during the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the sales of domestic kitchen appliances soared, the delivery service industry boomed and networks of distribution were adapted. While in no way claiming a one-directional or causal link between these different processes, I propose to shift attention to the largely invisible work of the domestic cook – often women or other care-givers. Through conceptualising domestic cooks and their technologies as cyborgs, I will demonstrate that more-than-human cooks are pioneers of radical transformation: digital kitchen robots with access to thousands of online recipes challenge what “cooking from scratch” and cooking knowledge mean; smartphones equipped with online shops, delivery apps and recipe blogs make the upholding of the domestic as bounded seem absurd. Put simply, cyborg cooks are transforming our world every day under our very noses.