Reconsidering the microwave: a historical analysis of changing attitudes to modernist kitchen technology

Journal article

The microwave oven can perhaps be considered as the first modernist kitchen invention. However, despite early gastronomic excitement over the potential of the 1940’s technology, there are few chefs or home cooks who celebrate using this kitchen device, despite the majority of kitchens nowadays being fitted with a microwave oven. Many of the safety concerns that were raised against the use of this technology since its widespread arrival in the home kitchen back in the 1970s have proven unfounded. At the same time, however, with the likely continued increase in energy prices (and other energy crises), the microwave oven should perhaps be re-evaluated, given that it constitutes a far more energy-efficient means of warming food than traditional ovens. Microwave cooking also represents a far more efficient means of preserving the nutrient, mineral, and anti-oxidant content in a range of fresh foods (e.g., vegetables). However, changing public perception will likely require a much better understanding of what, exactly, people object to concerning the technology: Is it safety fears, the functional inability to brown foods, the fact that it heats unevenly, or perhaps the sense that it is perceived as a lazy way to prepare (or reheat pre-prepared) food? Nudging people to embrace an energy-efficient form of heating food, and a nutrient-preserving way of cooking vegetables, will though likely require emotional as much as factual arguments.

Authors: Spence, C; Youssef, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science
• Volume: 43
• Article number: 101407
• Publication date: 2026-01-02
• Acceptance date: 2026-01-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijgfs.2026.101407
• EISSN: 1878-4518
• ISSN: 1878-450X
• Language: English
• Keywords: molecular gastronomy; scientific cooking; microwave cooking