Swedish graphic designers Petter Johansson Kukacka and Christain Isberg have designed a 'Collaborative Cooking' machine in the hope of reimagining culinary discourse, or at least steering it away from its current preoccupation with Michelin stars and celebrity chefs.  The machine featured in the kitchen of the Strange Beast House at Clerkenwell Design Week last week.

This unusual contrivance was born out of the idea to create a remote control toaster but when the scope of the project quickly blew up, programmer Lasse Korsgaard and chef Carl Berglöf were drafted in to assist.  Pjadad/Isberg, as they're collectively known, have created a timber framework fitted with a large cooking pot, a chimney and 35 food dispensers containing, meats, vegetables, herbs and spices. Enough separate ingredients to make an endless amount of dishes. Once the machine is loaded with ingredients the cooking is done remotely by up to 5 anonymous chefs, controlling heat, timings, stirring and seasoning from their smart phones.

The anonymity of the chefs raises questions about restaurant conventions, chef involvement and the need for a physical presence in the kitchen, not least about the future of home cooking, making for an interesting alternative narrative to the usual foody tittle-tattle.