top of page

I won't be impressed with technology until I can download food

It's only 2023, give it a few years (months), this may come true too


I use a grocery app to order everything from whole wheat spaghetti to laundry detergent, and potato crisps to disposable cutlery. When not in the mood to cook, I browse through the food delivery apps and sit back while a delivery boy braves Dubai traffic and brings me a platter of piping hot kebabs. The Select, Click, and Relish experience is pretty exciting and delightful. It isn't very new either. We've been using technology to bring us closer to food for a while now. Plus, every now and then a food pill gets invented. I am being dramatic! Drop it in a bowl of boiling water, and you have a bowl of lentil soup. Add to it the ready-to-eat options, of course. So far, so good.


Last week, I was at a friend's home when our evening coffee meeting extended to dinner time. She suggested I stay back for a meal, and we could order in pizzas or toss up a salad with the ingredients in the refrigerator. As we had this chat, her five-year- old came up with a better suggestion, "Why don't we download e-noodles, instead?" Next, she handed over her iPad to us, to do the needful. There was nothing to be quite surprised about, she does select the games, movies and poems she wants to watch (play), and once her mommy-daddy click the download tab she has instant access to the items. Then, why not a box of noodles? It took us time to explain to her that it wasn't a possibility (not yet). Of

course, she was not impressed and had to wait for 30 minutes to eat her share of noodles.


So, if everything's indeed available with a click, then why not food via internet browsers? You are reading this post with a simple click too. As you read through this piece, don't you wonder if you could hit download and instantly relish the beetroot hummus or the tall glass of detox juice! Or well, the cake below?



Imagine browsing through a portal or app at breakfast time.Your cursor hovers over a picture of warm milk, berries, and cereal, you hit download. Once the download is complete, a meal is waiting to be consumed. Will not hosting dinner parties be such a pleasure? Add to cart: Two portions of Onion Soup. One each of Butternut Squash Boulangère and Duck Confit. A box of macaroons. Download complete. Bon appétit!


Yes, just like the little girl, I won't be impressed with technology until I can download food.


P.S: I am not talking about the food in the virtual world, I want food that I can taste, look and feel. I am a fussy cook (means: don't make me to do it, everyday) and I am just sharing a culinary dilemma and dream here. It's only 2023, give it a few years (months), this may come true too.


Disclaimer: This is a place where now and then — we pause to make sense of a routine existence. We turn into bystanders (as we witness our lives go by) — observing, absorbing, questioning, wondering...



bottom of page