Last Friday, Nomiku announced it was closing its doors.
Alongside Anova and Sansaire, the San Francisco based startup founded by Lisa and Abe Fetterman was part of an early class of consumer sous vide startups looking to democratize the high-end cooking technique through technology. Now, nearly a decade after the publication of Modernist Cuisine, only Anova is left standing (after being acquired by Electrolux) while Nomiku and Sansaire are no more. So what does it all mean?
No spoilers here! You’ll have to listen to The Spoon editor podcast to find out.
In addition to discussing the end of Nomiku and the broader meaning of it all, the Spoon editor team also discuss the following stories:
- Winners and losers in kitchen Kickstarter in 2019
- Blue Bottle wants to become waste free in one year. Is that too aggressive?
- What is this about breast milk grown in a lab?
As always, you can listen to this episode of the Food Tech Show on Apple podcasts or Spotify, download directly to your device, or just click play below.
I don’t buy this conclusion that Sous Vide is “just too hard.” I think it’s harder for people to wrap their heads around than it is to do. As a non-cook, I love sous vide because it lets me prepare something with reasonable assurance that it’s going to turn out the way I wanted it to. I wouldn’t consider Sous Vide a time-saver or a convenience—it takes some time to cook. But it’s not difficult by any means. Prepping an InstantPot meal, for example, is usually WAY more work (and takes nearly as much time). Also: here’s a hint on getting the water bath warmer faster: start with a pot of your hottest hot tap water.