why is automation removing the joy and creativity of cooking instead of the dishes, which is what the person is left to do.
this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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How much joy and creativity do think there was in these places before?
When I was a cook, even if I was just making something simple, I could still find creative satisfaction in a variety of ways. How you sprinkle on the garnish, plating, using a little more of this, a little less of that. Food to a chef is like art designed to be destroyed, so with the temporary nature of the medium, it really allows you to be creative. You're not hung up on making it perfect, because it's just about to be eaten, so it let's you be more free with your design choices. It can be fun creating art while you're supposed to be working.
but if my job was suddenly just washing up after a machine... well. That will get old real quick.
The first paragraph is a fantasy.
In this restaurant, where the chef was replaced by a salad machine, the "chef" was a human salad machine before. There was no time to play with garnish and playing, they weren't serving Michelin star food. The term "chef" is used very liberally here, you aren't a chef if the only thing you cook at a restaurant is assemble salad that a machine can do to the same standard.
They were assembling salads, it wasn't a dream job.
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More than there was before the cooks got put on dishwashing and floor mopping.
Imagine being able to automate a cook but science still hasnt come far enough for some kind of dish washing machine and a robotic vaccum cleaner, weird huh
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Automation should replace cooks, but in fast food restaurants instead of proper ones. They should free up people who work brain-dead jobs at Mcdonalds or KFC to let them work at other places, including other proper restaurants that don't make fast food.
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South Korea is genuinely fucked as a country. Population decline is going to ruin them. It's going to ruin a lot in the U.S as well.
The USA was actually on a survivable path with our low domestic birth rate because of the large immigration was compensating. Well, now we've fucked that up royally by kicking out our immigrants, and also made ourselves a pariah on the global stage so no new immigrants will want to come here.
also the tariffs, and the anti-science funding cuts have turned people off from the US.
apparently SK is worst off than japan.
Korea is not fucked. We're doing better than the US at fighting fascism. Birth rates are on the rise. Universal Healthcare is already decades ongoing. They're proposing a four day workweek. It's fucking paradise compared to much of the world.
Yeah that 4 day work week might become a thing. You'll just work 17 hours a day. Samsung just extended their work weeks to 64 hours a week regarding semiconductors after complaining about the 52 hours limit. You guys are good at fighting facism and corruption as long as Samsung isn't involved. And your birthrate raised by .03 to .75. A healthy population needs like 2.1. And you guys are not immune from inflation and global markets so your cost of living has gone up like everyone else. And considering the poverty rate for the super young and the really old are sky high things aren't looking good.
I'm not trying to shit on South Korea but you guys are just as fucked as everyone else. It's no paradise
Are they really making the food worse, or are people just biased against it because a robot made it? Because humans are perfectly capable of making shit food themselves as well
In any case, in a world where 1st world countries actually took care of their citizens this would be a non-issue. Either there would be some sort of UBI program in place for workers that get replaced by robots or a worker re-training program or a combination of both (e.g. people still have an income during that training).
Either there would be some sort of UBI program in place for workers that get replaced by robots
UBI wouldn't be just for workers that get replace by robots. The "U" in "UBI" is Universal, meaning everyone gets the Basic Income. From the guy with untreated mental illness that hangs out in the park to the richest billionaire.
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That's what I'm thinking. I bet if you put a human-prepared meal and a robot-prepared meal next to each other and didn't tell the customer which is which, they wouldn't be able to tell. It's like how wine tastes better if you think it's more expensive.
I lived in Korea for a couple of years and ate at some of these places while traveling.
It was honestly always good. Basically you do a quick order, get a ticket, then get your food. I always got the fried pork cutlet. That shit was the bomb.
Now that I am back in the states I miss the level of care and dedication that Koreans put into the food they make and I’d go back again just for the eats.
They are useful when someone works late shifts and wants something proper at like 12pm when every kitchen worker has long gone home. They usually offer a more limited menu but it‘s honestly a neat idea.
These have been in use in German cantinas for a while as well. Usually inside hospitals or larger office spaces.
So, why not just replace humans at odd hours of the night some rando walks in, and keep em during normal buisness hours?
Because then you have an expensive robot not being used, while still keeping the wage bill.
Never thought about it before, but is there science fiction with a premise where humans might someday forget how to cook because it’s no longer a part of the culture?
Star trek touches on it a bit. Some people definitely still cook in the shows, but it's almost seen as a thing for special occasions.
That’s a good point! SNW does have Pike cooking for some of his crew on occasion.
Not off the top of my head. Cooking is frequently a recreational hobby though, it's essentially an art form. So I think it's about equally likely that dancing, painting or making music fade away.
Sewing is fading away but maybe that's different enough
People do crossstitch and make unique outfits all the time. Everyone not in rich consumer countries (and the poorer people in those countries) all learn at least basic stiching.
The Feeling of Power might be close enough. It's an Isaac Asimov short story from 1958. Basic plot is that people have become so reliant on computers, they can't do basic math or counting. It's about what happens with mental decline with making machines do all the thinking. (There is more, and the link explains the story but I feel that I shouldn't include spoilers, even for a 50+ year old story.
If you want, you can read the scans of the original here.
Also, Dad's Nuke touched on this kind of subject with people having get together and they have to make their own food and come with things like Jalapeno Pie/Cake(?) and other interesting dishes which indicates that people are already losing the ability to do basic cooking.
That’s so cool, thank you. I never delved into Asimov before, but it’s sounds like I really should.
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