Nintendo Takes Its Place in the Kitchen

Japan has always been a few steps ahead in games and electronics. The cell phones, the electronic toys, and the cameras make ours look like they are from the stone ages. So, when I recently saw a new Nintendo “game” only available in Japan, I realized that Japan’s advances are infiltrating far beyond text messaging and high resolutions pictures of kittens.

The Nintendo DS (dual screen), a semi-recently released Game Boy for the modern kid, offers more than just Tetris and Mario games. It provides “adult functions,” too. The DS Cooking Navigator looks like any game cartridge. But load it into your DS and you’ll be doing more than fighting villains and capturing princesses.
The Cooking Navigator helps you prepare over 200 Japanese meals, from sushi to mushroom miso soup. The cook can browse recipes by calories, ingredients, or type of dish. Then, by selecting a serving size, the DS guides the user through a shopping list and step-by-step instructions for meal preparation. If your DS is near the sink and you are at your chopping block, you can use the voice activation feature to move through your personal cooking lesson by speaking to the monitor!

Each step of the recipe features a picture to illustrate the phase: how to chop, sear, sauté, and boil. If everyone had the DS Cooking Navigator, The Dish’s Dishes might find itself out of business! Luckily for now, the program is only in Japanese characters and dialogue! To see a demo, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtEBzRb5G9Q