USA vs. Germany: Who makes the better cheesecake?

Of course, the German cheesecake is much better! This is one reason I have sometimes homesickness living here in the US! 😊

Wakayama: The Cradle of Japan's Flavors - Journeys in Japan

Culinary delights! Notice, the preparation of some of these specialties takes months if not more than a year. Unfortunately, the host is a little bit annoying!

Hong Kong start-up Wada FoodTech takes groundbreaking bento vending machines to Japan

Recommendable! Asian fast food via vending machine!

Cheap Robo-chef ALOHA autonomously cooks a three-course Asian menu, cleans up after itself

Where can I order my personal chef? 😋 Can you imagine a robot chef preparing all your favorite foods all day, every day! That would be a slow death by indulgence! 😊

"... But that may soon change. Now, researchers at Stanford University have shown that sophisticated robots don’t require exorbitant budgets. 

The Standford engineers devised a wheeled, sophisticated bot that can cook a three-course Cantonese meal. It costs only $32,000 to build (as a prototype) and is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The robot cooks shrimp, cleans up after itself, and calls an elevator for delivery — all without any human supervision. ..."

From the abstract:

"Imitation learning from human demonstrations has shown impressive performance in robotics. However, most results focus on table-top manipulation, lacking the mobility and dexterity necessary for generally useful tasks. In this work, we develop a system for imitating mobile manipulation tasks that are bimanual and require whole-body control. We first present Mobile ALOHA, a low-cost and whole-body teleoperation system for data collection. It augments the ALOHA system with a mobile base, and a whole-body teleoperation interface. Using data collected with Mobile ALOHA, we then perform supervised behavior cloning and find that co-training with existing static ALOHA datasets boosts performance on mobile manipulation tasks. With 50 demonstrations for each task, co-training can increase success rates by up to 90%, allowing Mobile ALOHA to autonomously complete complex mobile manipulation tasks such as sauteing and serving a piece of shrimp, opening a two-door wall cabinet to store heavy cooking pots, calling and entering an elevator, and lightly rinsing a used pan using a kitchen faucet. Project website: this https URL"

Cheap Robo-chef autonomously cooks a three-course Asian menu, cleans up after itself The autonomous robot is remarkably dexterous around the kitchen.

Mobile ALOHA Learning Bimanual Mobile Manipulation with Low-Cost Whole-Body Teleoperation (Github)

Mobile ALOHA: Learning Bimanual Mobile Manipulation with Low-Cost Whole-Body Teleoperation (open access)

Taiwan engages in gastrodiplomacy!

Winning the hearts and minds through stomachs! Bon appetit! 吃好喝好

As they say make culinary love not war!

"China’s continual efforts to squeeze Taiwan out of the international community limit Taiwan’s options for connecting with the outside world through traditional diplomatic channels. Not only does this undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, but the resulting diplomatic isolation has also created a general lack of awareness regarding Taiwan around the globe. One of the most valuable cultural assets that Taiwan could utilize to gain more global awareness—as well as to distinguish itself from China—is its vast culinary tradition. Gastrodiplomacy ... describes as “the act of winning hearts and minds through stomachs,” presents an invaluable opportunity for Taiwan to enhance its nation branding by connecting foreign audiences with its diverse cuisine.  ..."

Taiwanese Identity and Culinary Diplomacy: Moving from Dim Sum Diplomacy to Made in Taiwan | Global Taiwan Institute

How 1.5 Tonnes Of Döner Kebab Is Made Every Day At This Legendary Kebab Shop In Turkey

Bon appetit! Delicious!

Picture of the day

Bon appetit! A diet to gain weight and be happy? (just kidding)

"Koshersoul,” chef Michael W. Twitty’s memoir about his career fusing Jewish and African-American culinary histories, was named the Jewish book of 2022 by the Jewish Book Council. 

Credits: Michael Twitty’s ‘Koshersoul,’ a memoir of food and identity, named Jewish book of the year 

A Taste Of The Future: From Edible Alcohol To Lab-Grown Eels

Sounds like I need new taste buds for the coming culinary delights! 😊

A Taste Of The Future: From Edible Alcohol To Lab-Grown Eels Hundreds of Israeli startups making food better, healthier, more sustainable

Alcohol you can eat, eels grown in a lab, snack bars infused with cannabis, infant formula made from almonds and buckwheat…

The Stories Behind Food Names

Very recommendable! Salivate! Bon appetite!

How Authentic Croissants Are Made In France

Bon appetit! Lot's of work and lot's of butter! But crisp on the outside and soft inside!

A brief history of dumplings

Mouth watering!

How Traditional Italian Gelato Is Made

There is a heatwave going on in Europe!

Space hummus: Israeli researchers to grow chickpeas on International Space Station

Bon appétit! What would space be like without hummus? 😄

Space hummus: Israeli researchers to grow chickpeas on space station - The Jerusalem Post Israeli experiments on the International Space Station to focus on creating sustainable food sources for astronauts.

How the humble pita has gone through a gourmet makeover

Bon appetit! Looks finger licking good!

How the humble pita has gone through a gourmet makeover - ISRAEL21c You won’t believe what Israeli chefs put into pita these days – from ossobuco to ratatouille to spicy lamb arayes, pita has become the go-to dish for serious foodies.