I am very curious to see the Fundación series, although to tell the truth right now I don't have time, nor access to the platform that offers it, nor the desire to pay more fees for services that I don't use. But I still remember the hours of happiness that the literary saga on which it is based produced in me when, as a student, I savored a good number of novels by that science fiction giant named Isaac Asimov.
By the way, I also remember reading him acknowledging that for a long time humanoid robots had more prominence than computers in his futuristic works, although in the end these developed more quickly. In this sense, the HAL 9000 of 2001 was more visionary: a Space Odyssey by two other great creative monsters, Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, which also marked a youth, as they see, very interested in the future.
With the idea that creativity builds the future, Andoni Luis Aduriz inaugurated the XXI edition of Madrid Fusión this week. Consequently, he asserted that creativity cannot be over. “Another thing is knowing who will develop it in the future”, he commented smiling when we passed each other on the stairs. It is always a gift to listen to the Mugaritz chef because he helps us and at the same time forces us to reflect.
For my part, I do it again about how artificial intelligence will help us cook. Actually, it is a question that has concerned me for years and I have already given you the sheet on different occasions on the subject. It was precisely the end of a 2019 article entitled, Will robots be the new star chefs? Sentencing "... if cooking is the food strategy that characterizes us as a species, if cooking makes us human, no machine will ever be able to really cook."
Well, I confess that after my last conversations with the recently opened ChatGPT, maybe I wouldn't be so categorical today, because artificial intelligence has already begun to subvert our personal and professional lives for good. And if until now the prospective gurus advised us to dedicate ourselves to tasks based on creativity and decision making because the other functions would be better performed by machines, we are now left in a state of shock at the evidence that, precisely because of their ability to processing and integrating huge amounts of data, in many cases the most accurate and well-founded decision-making and the creation of proposals that are most appropriate to specific needs will be the main advantages of artificial intelligence over natural human reasoning.
Or what is the same, that these new machines that think about nothing will integrate variables such as taste synergies, traditions, trends, supplier lists ordered by proximity, carbon footprint generated by each ingredient, water required, logistics, price, season, shelf life, allergens, food waste and many more considerations and criteria to prepare proposals for dishes that can also be adapted to the needs, preferences and even the recent and expected consumption history of each diner.
Let's be clear that things are going that way, that it will be in a very short time and that it will redefine the very concept of culinary creativity. I could almost venture that, like Asimov, we have thought more about robots than computers when imagining who would replace us in our work and that perhaps in the coming years the culinary value will once again be less intellectual and more manual, based in the virtuous gesture of the craftsman handling fresh food in the heat of the flame... Until new versions of robot cooks also surpass us in all these functions. But it is that I no longer dare, the truth.
I just have to check if my new friend GPT has reached out to those chefs whose presentations shone the brightest in the Madrid Fusión auditorium, asking him, for example, if a cauliflower can be black, like the one presented by Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch with their Disfrutar team. after cooking it for 72 hours at a controlled temperature and pressure.
“- No, cauliflower is white. (…) It is important not to overcook the cauliflower, as it would become very soft and lose flavor.”
Or, as Ángel León demonstrated, the eyes of the fish can be transformed into a kind of popcorn.
“No, fish eyes are not a common ingredient in popcorn, it is not meant to be edible. Fish eyes are body parts of fish and are not commonly used in cooking. It is important to remember that popcorn is a plant-based food, not made with animal products.”
Or if he would be capable of inventing a Sachertorte recipe that included stewed hare meat royal style, like the one in the keynote speech by the Roca brothers.
“It is not common to use hare meat in a Sachertorte recipe, as its flavor and texture would not adapt well to a chocolate cake. Sachertorte is a traditional Austrian dessert, which is based on the contrast between chocolate and apricot jam. Adding hare meat to the recipe is not recommended, as it goes against tradition and would not be a flavor combination you would expect in a Sachertorte. It is important to note that the hare is not a common ingredient in the kitchen, and especially in confectionery. It is better to follow the original recipe and enjoy its traditional flavor.”
Not yet a gastronomic Deep Blue. Even his enormous processing capacity does not handle culinary knowledge with the immeasurable alacrity that Dabiz Muñoz exhibited in his demonstration. He is not yet capable of cooking poems to Peruvian biodiversity like Virgilio Martínez and Pía León.
But the future is approaching at breakneck speed. We will make it good.
