Overview
Forget microwave dinners. Come the not too distant future, you could be cooking your food in the washing machine. A university student in Tel Aviv has recently devised a new type of instant meal that cooks sous-vide style in the laundry along with your dirty socks. How very appetising.
Created by Iftach Gazit of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, the Sous La Vie bags are made from waterproof Tyvek paper, and contain a sealed inner plastic bag — ensuring you don't end up with mixed veggies in your undies, or soap in your salmon teriyaki.
"In sous-vide, the food is cooked in a bath-like device at temperatures usually around 50 to 70 degrees Celsius," explains Gazit in a blog post. "The same conditions can be found in a washing machine."
"Instead of following a sous-vide recipe and cooking a piece of meat at 58 degrees Celsius for two and a half hours, just set your washing machine to 'synthetics' for a long duration program," he suggests. "Cooking vegetables? Set your machine to 'cotton' for a short duration program."
In addition to being a convenient — if rather disconcerting — option for those of us who don't have a lot of time to prepare food, Gazit also believes that his invention could help those who are sleeping rough, pointing out that all night laundromats often double as impromptu accommodation for the homeless. "They offer a hassle-free shelter," he explains. "So why shouldn't you be able to cook some food while there?"
It's not clear if and when Gazit's product will ever hit the market, or whether it would ever really be embraced by consumers. Still… surely you'd be curious to try it at least once.
Via Dezeen.