Good Food
The rice cooker: Liberating generations of chefs
Cooking rice on a wood-burning stove was an art, says Anne Ewbank. Around 1945, engineer Masaru Ibuka started a small company in an abandoned department store that fixed radios.
By Evan Kleiman • • 8m ListenCooking rice on a wood-burning stove was an art, says Anne Ewbank. Around 1945, engineer Masaru Ibuka started a small company in an abandoned department store that fixed radios. His team was often paid in rice, and their first invention was a rice cooker. Ibuka eventually founded Sony. Ewbank documents the history of rice cookers in her piece for Atlas Obscura.
