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Sometimes technology takes interesting turns that leave you wondering what the future could hold. In my books, Upliance 2.0, an ‘AI-powered’ kitchen companion, falls in that category. This device, the second from Indian startup upliance.ai, is actually a bit like technology flexing its muscles to show the world what it can do, whether the world wants it or not.
Upliance 2.0 is a kitchen appliance that can help you with all your cooking needs. But hold your horses… it needs a human in the loop at all times, though it can take over a lot of the drudgery of cooking for those who think of it just as a chore. In fact, what the device smartly does is convert everything in the kitchen into a process, or a formula. It is, in other words, a recipe manager. Stick to the script and you will not go hungry.
Upliance 2.0 is almost the size of a mixer-grinder with a screen (actually a tablet) facing you on the front, a large jar that does everything from cooking to sauteing and steaming, a small surface to measure ingredients exactly, and some accessories to help you with the process. You should ideally connect the Upliance app to the device, which needs a Wi-Fi connection, so that you can browse recipes on the phone and transfer them to the appliance for cooking.
The greatest aspect is that this appliance has been made for the dumbest bachelor cook — I say this with some authority because I was one for a few years. So you can leave the thinking aside if you have the patience to follow instructions. And the instructions start from how to set up the jar to how to show it for each part of the cooking process. This is as idiot proof as it gets.
I browsed through the large selection of recipes — well, it has everything from a Masala Chai to a Biriyani — to find something complex to test the capabilities of the device. Finally, I settled on a prawn curry with some help from my better half. Both of us are decent cooks, but she is a bit better at the end results than I am. So we chose a recipe for which we had all the ingredients at home.
Once the recipe is locked, Upliance 2.0 takes over. It tells you what ingredients you need at each stage. You use the surface above the screen to weigh things to the precise measure the recipe wants. At each stage, once all the ingredients are in, the jar does what needs to be done. Like chopping or pureeing the onion, garlic, and ginger you have put in. I loved how, as this is happening, the screen tells you what new ingredients to keep ready for the next stage. As we kept following the instructions, the device moved from chopping to sauteing and then cooking the stuff inside the jar. Once it is done, all you need to do is take out the stuff and serve. The prawn curry was actually good, and till we tasted it, we were not sure what the appliance was going to dish out.
But it is not as simple as it seems. The human in the loop means you are fully engaged during the cooking process. Smart cooks know that they are free to do other stuff once they have done the tough part. Here, you need to be on call all the time.
Then, I felt the device did not warn you enough about the stages. Often, the jar is very hot or has steam filled up inside. But the screen does not caution you about these stages and why you need to wait before opening the lid. If this is a foolproof machine, then this part is really important.
Also, I kept this on my breakfast table for review. You ideally need to keep it under the chimney because it goes through all the fumes and steam associated with regular cooking. Being an open kitchen, my home smelled like whatever I was cooking with Upliance 2.0. The tricky part is that in most homes, the space under the chimney is already occupied by a hob.
While everything I cooked with Upliance 2.0 turned out as per the recipe, I was not able to actually think about who the Upliance 2.0 customer would be. I guess it has to be a young professional without any time to cook or without the skills required. The first does not really align, as this device needs your time and attention, as you would with traditional cooking, maybe more so. Then this is for those who want to cook a variety of dishes but don’t have the patience to follow a recipe or stick to the processes. Then it makes more sense.
Still, I am not sure people would want to make chai or cold coffee using a device that also cooks their khichdi. I think a greater focus on process-driven recipes that have a lot of stages and need a lot of work might help Upliance find its true calling.
Interestingly, it even has a recipe to clean the jar — a mix of vinegar, baking soda, and water. But then you have to clear it again, the old-fashioned way, with cleaning liquid and scrubbers. This was sort of lost on me.
I was not sure about the AI part here. One can add their own recipe or a YouTube recipe to the AI chatbot in the app and ask it to convert it into a recipe on the device. This takes a couple of minutes, as I discovered with a Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani recipe by Chef Ranveer Brar. But the final recipe added stages that needed a frying pan and went beyond the mandate of Upliance 2.0. I would have loved a bit more of AI to kick in, by letting you add ingredients in your fridge for the device to suggest recipes to cook in a certain amount of time. Or during the process, if you are burning something in the jar (yes, I did that), the AI can step in to salvage the situation.
At Rs 39,999, this is an interesting product to buy if you love your food, but you are really bad at cooking, though you love the process involved. Yes, that is a complicated one. Invest if you think this is solving a problem for you.
