Robot Technology News
ROBO SPACE
Top French chefs warm to AI in the kitchen
Top French chefs warm to AI in the kitchen
By Adam PLOWRIGHT
Paris (AFP) May 5, 2025

At the annual gathering of France's finest chefs for the Michelin Guide awards this year, the talk was not only about whose restaurants had gained or lost a star.

"Everyone's discussing AI. I was at a table of 12 other chefs and it was the main thing we talked about," Matan Zaken, who runs the one-star Nhome restaurant in Paris, told AFP at the event at the end of March.

The 32-year-old believes that some of his peers are reluctant to admit just how much they are already consulting services such as ChatGPT to help them with recipes and ideas.

"You'd be amazed to know how many people are using it. There are a lot of egos in the business. They're not going to make a big thing about it," he said.

Zaken has made a point of openly embracing the technology, which he says has the potential to produce surprising new pairings of ingredients, offering the possibility of palate-twisting discoveries for diners.

"You have to move with the times," said the Franco-Israeli owner of the intimate 20-cover Nhome, where guests eat around a large communal table.

Instead of relying on his usual kitchen tasting books, he can now access vast online databases of food photographs, recipes and even the chemical analysis of food molecules.

One recent discovery thanks to ChatGPT Premium, which he says is starting to learn his cooking style, was the complementarity between peanuts and wild garlic.

Recently, he joined forces with French digital art collective Obvious Art.

The group provided Zaken with a series of AI-generated photographs of food on plates and he was required to come up with meals that were served at a private event.

This reversed the usual creative cooking process which begins with the ingredients.

- 'Can't replace humans' -

Not everyone is so enthusiastic about the new technology in the kitchen, though.

Although the high-end cooking jobs are seen as relatively insulated from the arrival of AI -- unlike other industries -- the idea of computers helping with, or even replacing, the creative process makes some chefs uneasy.

"Artificial intelligence will never replace the human touch, the palate of the cook," said French celebrity chef Philippe Etchebest, who was toasting a second star for his Bordeaux eatery, Maison Nouvelle, at the Michelin event.

"Artificial intelligence can replace humans elsewhere but in the kitchen I don't believe it will at all."

For others, computers and new technology run counter to the vision of kitchens as an artisanal workplace, based on human-to-human transmission and cooking that is rooted in local tradition and produce.

"It's not really in the spirit of our business," said Thibaut Spiwack, a young chef who runs Anona, an eco-friendly one-star restaurant in Paris that sources all of its produce from the capital region.

"My intelligence is in these," said Thierry Bridron, a pastry chef and head of the Valrhona cooking school, holding up his hands at an after-party at the Michelin awards.

"There's nothing more beautiful than nature and what grows."

- Molecular analysis -

Whatever their views on AI in the creative process, many appeared ready to embrace ChatGPT and other AI services to relieve them of tedious work, such as writing emails, job advertisements or producing kitchen rotas.

New phone-based apps such as Menu or Fullsoon offer more, enabling users to enter recipes and then have instant estimates of cost or the carbon footprint of their dishes.

By using data on past purchases and billing, some existing services can help restaurants predict demand, sometimes by integrating factors such as weather and the dates of local sports events.

Raphael Haumont, a food chemistry expert at Paris Saclay University and co-founder of the French Centre of Culinary Innovation, believes the biggest changes will be on the plate.

He says advanced databases of food ingredients containing details about the molecules that produce the aromas and tastes we enjoy could help produce surprising new pairings.

"Perhaps the computer can find things in common that are completely unexpected. For example, chocolate and cucumber. We know now that it works," Haumont told AFP.

AI-augmented software can also analyse hundreds of thousands of cookbooks, while suggesting new ways to produce or plate food.

"It can analyse 10,000 images of plated langoustine, for example, and say: 'The next one could look like that. Be inspired'," he added.

In his techno-utopian vision of the future, high-precision robots might even do some of the most thankless kitchen tasks for an industry that is perennially short of workers.

"Who wants to peel potatoes for two hours?" he asked.

adp/gil

Michelin

Related Links
All about the robots on Earth and beyond!

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
ROBO SPACE
AI companions present risks for young users, US watchdog warns
New York (AFP) April 30, 2025
AI companions powered by generative artificial intelligence present real risks and should be banned for minors, a leading US tech watchdog said in a study published Wednesday. The explosion in generative AI since the advent of ChatGPT has seen several startups launch apps focused on exchange and contact, sometimes described as virtual friends or therapists that communicate according to one's tastes and needs. The watchdog, Common Sense, tested several of these platforms, namely Nomi, Character A ... read more

ROBO SPACE
Autonomous Black Hawk helicopter trials showcase future of aerial firefighting

Britain, U.S. attack Houthi drone manufacturing targets in Yemen

US lost 7 multi-million-dollar drones in Yemen area since March

Pakistan says it shot down Indian drone along Kashmir border

ROBO SPACE
Bowing to EU, Coca-Cola changes plastic bottle recycling claims

Microsoft raises Xbox prices globally, following Sony

China pioneers daytime satellite laser ranging in Earth moon space

Microsoft reports strong results driven by cloud and AI; Urges fast 'resolution' of transatlantic trade issues

ROBO SPACE
MIT engineers advance toward a fault-tolerant quantum computer

EU 'off the pace' in global microchip race: auditors

IBM to invest $150 bn in US over five years

Xi says China must 'overcome' AI chip challenges

ROBO SPACE
EDF complaint blocks Czech-Korean nuclear deal

Google agrees to fund three US nuclear plants

AI driven algorithm streamlines next generation nuclear reactor shielding design

Spain nuclear plants in 'safe' shutdown mode after blackout

ROBO SPACE
Iraq arrests IS suspect for inciting the New Orleans attack

US to withdraw some 1,000 troops from Syria

'Bring him home': Philippines migrant workers grapple with Duterte fallout

Iraq says kills senior Islamic State group leader

ROBO SPACE
World's richest 10% caused two thirds of global warming: study

How can an electricity network go down in five seconds?

Finland says supports EU goal to cut emissions 90 percent by 2040

UN, Brazil to hold virtual summit Wednesday ahead of COP30

ROBO SPACE
Fusion modeling breakthrough accelerates stellarator design and confinement accuracy

'Cold' manufacturing approach to make next-gen batteries

UT Austin researchers advance magnetic fusion design with new confinement method

New model enhances accuracy in fusion barrier predictions for nuclear research

ROBO SPACE
Tiangong returns largest sample set yet for biological and materials science research

Space is a place to found a community not a colony

China's Shenzhou-19 astronauts return to Earth

New Shenzhou Crew Begins Handover Operations Aboard Tiangong

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.