I was under the impression that instant pot was not the inventor of the electric slow cooker / rice maker / pressure cooker hybrid, they were just the ones to import the concept from China and market it to North American audiences. Can anyone who lived in China in the late 90s confirm - was the instant pot style of pressure cooker popular back then, or is the instant pot brand truly the original I nventor of the hybrid pressure cooker concept?
Speaking As a (very satisfied) owner of an instant pot, when I first received it I recall noticing it looked very similar to devices I would see for sale at my local east Asian grocery store
China since 2001 here. Most of the early rice cooker type pots didn't do 'pressure cooking' but obviously rice cooking in a confined space does have a pressure element potentially so it's not a huge leap. Not sure when the first ones with this leap appeared. Definitely before this guy named it in English. Given that he didn't have huge capital it's 99-100% likely he just rebranded and/or slightly modified an existing device and paid to get safety approvals for North American markets, thus making it import-capable. Note that they had a recall in 2015 which sort of implies they are not engineering in North America for the North American market. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2015/Instant-Pot-Pressure-Cooke...
It's pretty weird when you consider how food trends go. In China, back in the 90s, my parents use a pressure cooker and a wok for everything. And it's the norm as for most families I know both parent work and they have to come home at 5:30 and put food on the table at 6:30, with no easy option like frozen pizza. Now with supermarkets and food delivery you don't need to cook if you don't want to, and if you do choose to cook it becomes much more fancy(and western) with more time consuming steps.
I really liked this comparison. You might be right!
Can you say more? For example:
1. Back in the day, in the US, easy pre-made home meals were the rage. Frozen meals. Microwave dinners. Meals from a can. I don’t mean, “yeah, sure, we still have those today.” I mean, “This is the new society, this is the future, and this food is delicious and amazing!!!”
Was that ever a trend in China?
2. Is there a “Blue Apron China?” I don’t use Blue Apron, and personally think it’s silly — just wondering if there is something similar in China.
So i think in both places cooking has become more of a hobby/status signaling thing.
In China there's something similar to blue apron in late 90s or early 2000s. But it kinda die out because it's offered more on the convenience side instead of healthy side.
Baking stuff becomes quite popular in recent years, because it's a western thing, and it's time consuming, good for share with friends in itself or as photos:good showoff material. Whereas the old method of finding whatever is fresh today at wet market and do a quick stir-fry becomes more and more reserved for older genration, and thus is not a fancy thing todo. Pressure cooking also is something you do when you don't have time and worry about fuel bill, not sexy.
Preprepared food is looked down upon in both us and china , it seems. In US i think people feel empowering by the idea of feeding your family in a healthy way without a stay at home mom; in China a stayed at home mom just recently becomes a thing to brag about, and cooking seems to be a important tool to do it.
1. I don't think there was a trend like that except for instant noodle soups. Actually we are proud of being able to cook and generally frozen meals never worked well for Chinese stirfry things. After staying in US for several years I'm still not convinced those meals are "delicious".
2. Nothing I am aware of. At least noting at that scale. Premium food delivery is ubiquitous so you don't need blue apron for speed. Buying veggies is also not hard. Also be apron only saves you for preparation, which is the easiest part in Chinese cooking.
Japanese made the first Rice Cooker back in 40s in the last century. Even now, Japanese rice cooker is among the favorite merchandise/gift for Chinese tourists.
Lived in Taiwan 93-99. Electric rice cookers and steamers were very common in home and restaurant/street stand use, as were bamboo steamers. Never saw a pressure cooker. Dishes like 粥 or 滷味 or meat braises were cooked stove-top in pots, although I think it's possible to do 粥 (congee) in an electric rice cooker, too.
We've used a Japanese multi cooker for years. Tiger brand. Does rice, steaming, slow cooked stews and soups, even cakes and yoghurt. I'm very surprised at everyone talking as though the Instant Pot invented it.
The key difference is that the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker, which ordinary rice/multi-cookers are not, they just heat the pot to boil water until the temperature reaches a cutoff point.
Electric pressure cookers were invented in the US in the 1950s. The instant pot is pretty much identical to the one my grandmother had in the 1990s (I think presto).
I think you are talking about Korean electric pressure rice cooker. They have various cooking mode but more geared for rice. But people found a way to make cakes etc. This is North America version of them.
The makers are Chinese Canadian, I would say they were inspired by Asian designs but probably have a better product in terms of internals and externals as is normally expected.
Speaking As a (very satisfied) owner of an instant pot, when I first received it I recall noticing it looked very similar to devices I would see for sale at my local east Asian grocery store