Welcome to The Spoon!
My name is Michael Wolf and I’m really excited to announce our new site focused on the future of food, cooking and the kitchen.
This is a big week for us here: First, we’re launching this site, one we hope will become a regular destination for those interested in foodtech, the reinvention cooking and how the space around us – especially our kitchens – will adapt over time. And if that wasn’t big enough, we are also holding the second annual Smart Kitchen Summit.
Some might say that’s crazy; why launch a new site the same week as your big event? Ok, so maybe it is a little crazy, but I can’t think of a better time to start what we hope will be a community and daily destination to discuss the same technologies and themes – all of which we believe will dramatically transform the worlds of food and cooking over the next decade – that we plan to talk about this week at the Smart Kitchen Summit.
Since some of you may have a few questions about what we’re up to around here, I decided to answer a few – a FAQ of sorts – as we launch The Spoon.
What is The Spoon all about?
Like I said, this site will explore the future of everything related to food, cooking and the kitchen. While some may see these topics blurring into one, we see each as distinct.
How so?
First, the change happening in the world of food is immense. Whether it’s tapping into new food sources, finding ways to solve big problems like food waste or examining the massive shift in how food will reach our homes, we plan to explore all of it.
Cooking is also undergoing a revolution, as techniques from masters become democratized through technology, old crafts left to hobbyists reach new audiences through innovation, and the devices we use every day become smarter and help us to understand our food and, in some cases, take over the process of cooking.
Lastly, the kitchen – like many spaces in our homes and our broader world – are changing, becoming aware, sentient, alive with new sensors and interfaces. We plan to examine how these massive technology shifts will change the kitchen and what happens in the kitchen.
Why a new site?
When we launched the Smart Kitchen Summit, we knew we wanted to build a community around the future of cooking and the kitchen. After the success of last year’s event and the growth we are seeing this year, we thought: why not keep the conversation going year-round?
It also allows me to dive deeper into some of the topics I’ve developed a passion for during my career. Having worked at tech blog Gigaom for four years and more recently writing for Forbes, I’ve grown to love examining cutting edge consumer technologies, none more so than those that have the potential to change our everyday lives. I really believe the shifts happening in the kitchen – to how we cook, what we eat and how we live – is one of the most important and interesting conversations in tech today.
What’s up with the name?
Ever start a news blog or media site? It’s hard to come up with a name! But we really love The Spoon and here’s why: First, the symbol and name are unifying elements with our event. We love our spoon/radio wave symbol for the Smart Kitchen Summit, and so we thought this would be an obvious and important bridge between event and site.
Second, we wanted something approachable, that wouldn’t box us in from a topic standpoint, and the Spoon allows us to do that.
Lastly, we do want to be the source of your daily and weekly scoop on the future of food, cooking and tech, and we think you’ll agree that the Spoon is a great name for such as site.
We’ve already got some great content to take in, with lots more to come. If you’re looking for a place to start, check out Megan Giller’s conversation with the sous vide ‘king’ of Alabama, my look at how the quantified self could get a boost from the connected cooking, or this post by Ashley Daigneault looking at how more men – and tech – are entering the kitchen. If you’re a podcast fan, have a listen to my recent podcast conversation with Jane Freiman about how Campbell Soup is preparing itself for the future.
We’re excited to have you with us as we dig in and explore the transformation taking place across the worlds of food and cooking. Enjoy.
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