Tablets in the Kitchen

A tablet is short for a tablet computer which is a flat, thin, extremely mobile computing device with a touchscreen display. Gestures are recognized by a simple touch or a swipe of a finger or stylus. These hand-held computers are often equipped with a rechargeable battery, digital facing and rear cameras, a microphone, build in speakers, and sensors such as an accelerometer. They also have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capabilities as well so users can connect to the internet or cellular networks to access content and media.

By embracing tablets and incorporating such technology into the culinary classroom, students and instructors are able to interact on whole new level. With its small footprint, tablets take up very little space on a busy workstation. You could install a magnitude of useful culinary applications that would benefit a tenure instructor or an aspiring chef in the making.  Below are just a few applications this wondrous slate can provide:

Cookbooks & Recipe Apps:

Gone would be the days or lugging around large, heavy cooking and baking textbooks. You could purchase an Ebook or PDF version and have it at your fingertips. Plus creating digital bookmarks to your cooking projects “du jour” couldn’t be simpler.

Food Cost Manager Apps:

 A Food Cost Manager used to maintain your day to day food expenses. Using this app, students and instructors can record, track and organize food inventory to reduce cost and wastage.
Also you can update or delete records and view monthly or yearly reports.

Unit Converter Apps:

How handy would it be if learners in the kitchen labs could quickly convert measurements and temperatures? There are a few apps that do just that! And most of them are free to download.  

Pinterest:

Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows users to “pin” images, videos, text and other digital objects to an online pinboard. With this app students and instructors can share recipes and create class pin boards. Students can feel proud by posting or uploading pictures and videos of their culinary creations for the world to see.

Some limitations with this technology do exist however. The tablet is mostly reliant on a good internet connection since only partial software is installed and it must constantly retrieve data upon usage. This could be an issue in older culinary institutes due to architectural design and use of building materials that inhibit a wifi or cellular connection. Also most kitchens are equipped with a lot stainless steel cooking appliances and counters or workstations. These surfaces could deflect and weaken the wireless signals.

Another limitation would be battery life. Even new tablets with show signs of battery decay over a short period of usage. Since these batteries are internal and not easily replaced it would need a constant level of power when on the go or when a power receptacle is not available at a cooking workstation.