A NEW type of microwave oven will use steam power to blast away fat from the food that it cooks.
The device, made by the electronics giant Sharp, is only slightly larger than a conventional microwave oven, but several times more expensive, at about £650. It represents the latest stage in a seemingly relentless technological quest for healthy eating.
From steaks to sardines, the AX-HC1 will take on any dish placed inside it and, its makers claim, force out much of the fat and salt.
In a world-first for domestic cooking appliances, Sharp’s new oven will bring the industrial-strength power of superheated steam into kitchens.
A generating unit behind the oven converts standard 100C (212F) steam into an intense 300C jet and sprays it towards the food from three different directions.
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Under this bombardment, fat and salt are reduced to liquid within seconds and drain out of the food to form a puddle on the oven floor.
In readiness for the Japanese launch of the AX-HC1 this weekend, Sharp has been preparing potential customers for its machine’s capabilities.
A steak cooked by superheated steam, the company says, will have eight times less fat content than if it were prepared in a frying pan. Warmed in the AX-HC1, the Japanese staple of salted salmon ends up with three times less salt than if the same fish were grilled. Battered prawns will no longer be the slimmer’s nightmare.
Sharp strenuously denies that the 300C temperatures also robs their targets of flavour. “In fact,” a spokesman said proudly, “it can make food taste better.”
Electronics stores in central Tokyo confirmed that since the press unveiling of the machine this week, interest from the public has risen steadily.
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“There have been plenty of questions about the new oven, and we know the type of person asking them quite well,” a sales assistant at Yodobashi Camera said. “There are women who always ask how much fat each machine will remove. They ask it about toasters.”
On the surface, Sharp’s ambitions for the oven seem modest. It plans to start with a monthly output of about 10,000 units and officially is hoping that after giving it a global release later next year, it will sell 500,000 worldwide by 2008.
In the small print, however, the company evidently has far more triumphant ambitions for the fat-fighting steam jets, envisaging that they will “create a new market as the new ‘must have’ product for this century of health”.
Manufacturers of home appliances in Japan long ago recognised that health gimmicks sell machines to the domestic market. Fridges that spray negative ions towards their contents, air-purifying vacuum cleaners, ultrasound washing machines and filters that add vitamin C to shower water have all been foisted on a market that has so far shown no sign of losing its passion for such devices.
Sharp is a past master in the gadgetry field. From the first self-propelling pencil to the original microwave oven, the Osaka-based company has always fallen back on invention to give itself a market edge. Yet only recently has it spotted the vast potential market created by Japan’s increasingly obsessive interest in dieting.
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The signs are clearly there. Convenience stores across Japan now offer a larger range of over-the-counter fat- busting pills than they do chocolate. Coca-Cola opened the summer soft drinks war in Japan with its Body Style Water drink and the slogan: “Make your body slim!” Sachets with messages such as “Fat Kill!” and bearing graphic depictions of effects on the bowels are bandied around in the restaurants and canteens of office districts everywhere.
Daytime television presents Japanese viewers with an endless schedule of new “miracle foods”, followed by beauty pageants, where weeping housewives parade around with pictures of their portly pre-diet selves.
Many other industries have latched on to the fad. Textile makers have marketed trousers injected with fat- reducing chemicals.
Karaoke establishments have started to tell singers how many calories were expended during the performance of the last song. Something slow by Nat King Cole will burn about 3.5; anything by Tom Jones will be in double figures.