“The last few centuries of kitchen innovation have given us indoor plumbing, refrigeration, microwave ovens and the Slap Chop. But one piece of kitchen equipment hasn’t changed much: the cookbook,” Steven Stern reports for CNN.
“But now, everyone seems to be saying print is going the way of the Roman Empire. Compared to the rest of the publishing industry, the cookbook market is holding up relatively well, but the iPhone era may finally bring some innovation into a very old genre,” Stern reports. “Digital devices are entering the kitchen, and they’re changing the idea of what a cookbook can do.”
“There are more than 85 million iPhone and iPod Touch users around the world; since the iPad was launched in early April, more than a million have been sold,” Stern reports. “Four billion applications have been downloaded from Apple’s iTunes store, and among the most popular are cooking apps… The award-winning food website epicurious.com, owned by the Condé Nast magazine group, introduced its free iPhone application a year ago. By November, it had been downloaded a million times.”
Stern reports, “The moment the iPad hit the street, Epicurious had a slick, large-format version of the app ready to go. Its biggest attraction is a curated database of professional recipes: 28,000 of them, from the pages of Bon Appetit magazine and the now-defunct (and much-missed by foodies) Gourmet.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lurker_PC” for the heads up.]
Next: Turn by Turn Cooking, using the voice of Julia Child
: )
Okay. I love to cook, but…the iPhone apps…not so hot. Just a searchable database of recipes. The better cookbook would have recipes combined with videos of how to prepare the dish, from the chopping (broccoli!) to sauteing, etc.
You got it Ringgo! Although, I would prefer Jacques Pepin. His Complete Techniques took the fear out of cooking for me.
I use my eight-year-old G4 Titanium Powerbook in the kitchen all the time for recipes. It’s so slow by today’s standards that it’s not much good for anything else. I could easily see using an iPad, though. I finally got my hands on one on Saturday, and it’s just as nice a form factor as everyone’s been saying it is.
As much as I love Sainte Julia, Jacques Pepin has the advantage of actually being alive to record the steps and tips.
“alive” is overrated. Get Meryl Streep to play Julia.
Just get Giada. I’ll watch her boil water.
@ Spark,
“alive” is overrated.,
Speak for yourself. Alive beats the hell out of the alternative.
Turn-by-turn cooking directions via iPad…
“Foodie”. A word the world could do without.
@Contrarian,
Nice late ’80’s SNL reference.
I use the AllRecipes Meal Spinner app on my iPhone when I’m at the store & see a good sale on meats; I can lock in the main ingredient & then come up with ideas, as well ad get everything else needed for the recipe.