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A food processor is a
kitchen appliance
A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation.
Appliances are divided into three ty ...
used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food processors".
Food processors are similar to
blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...
s in many forms. A food processor typically requires little to no liquid during use, and even its finely chopped products retain some texture. A blender, however, requires a set amount of liquid in order for the blade to properly blend the food, and its output is also more liquidy. Food processors are used to blend, chop, dice, and slice, allowing for quicker meal preparation.
History
One of the first electric food processors was the Starmix, introduced by German company Electrostar in 1946. Although the basic unit resembled a simple blender, numerous accessories were available, including attachments for slicing bread, milk centrifuges and ice cream bowls. In a time when electric motors were expensive, they also developed the piccolo, where the food processor's base unit could drive a vacuum cleaner. In the 1960s,
Albrecht von Goertz designed the Starmix MX3 food processor. Although the entire company was rebranded as Starmix in 1968 following the success of the processors, they later focused on vacuum cleaners and electric hand-dryers and the last mixer was produced around the year 2000.
In France, the concept of a machine to process food began when a
catering company salesman,
Pierre Verdun, observed the large amount of time his clients spent in the kitchen chopping, shredding and mixing. He produced a simple but effective solution, a bowl with a revolving blade in the base. In 1960, this evolved into Robot-Coupe, a company established to manufacture commercial "food processors" for the
catering
Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
History of catering
The earliest account of major services be ...
industry. In the late 1960s, a commercial food processor driven by a powerful commercial induction motor was produced. Robot-Coupe's Magimix food processor arrived from France in the UK in 1974, beginning with the Model 1800. Then, a UK company
Kenwood Limited
Kenwood Limited is a British kitchen appliances manufacturer based in Havant, Hampshire. Kenwood designs, produces and sells kitchen appliances including stand mixers, blenders, food processors, kettles and toasters.
The company was founded ...
started their own first Kenwood Food Processor, 'processor de- luxe,' in 1979.
Carl Sontheimer Carl G. Sontheimer (1914 – 23 March 1998) was an American inventor and engineer best known for creating the original Cuisinart food processor.
Sontheimer was born in New York City but raised in France. He returned to the U.S. to attend the Massa ...
introduced this same Magimix 1800 food processor to North America in 1973 under the
Cuisinart
Cuisinart ( ) is an American home appliance brand owned by Conair Corporation. The company was started in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer to bring an electric food processor to the U.S. market. The "Food Processor" was the first model, introduced at a f ...
brand, as America's first domestic food processor. Sontheimer contracted with a Japanese manufacturer to produce new models in 1977 in order to immediately launch his new Japanese-made food processor in 1980 when his contract with Robot-Coupe expired.
Marc Harrison's Cuisinart Re-design
Disability research was an ongoing project because the first food processor created was not user friendly for all individuals. In 1978,
Marc Harrison
Marc Harrison, (July 1, 1936- September 22, 1998) was an industrial designer, educator, and invented the idea of universal design to make products easier to use for people with disabilities as well as people without disabilities. Harrison invente ...
was a professor at the
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
. He specialized in Industrial Design. Cuisinart, an American company, contacted and hired Harrison in 1978 to update the Food Processor.
Harrison updated the product to focus on making the machine usable for those with limited abilities with fine motor skills and eyesight, which in turn made it easier for any user to operate. These updates included larger writing on the base of the product to benefit those who have vision impairments, and larger handles and buttons.
These updates were created so that the food processor could be accessible for all users.
Functions
Food processors normally have multiple functions, depending on the placement and type of attachment or blade.
Some of the more challenging tasks include kneading stiff doughs, chopping raw carrots, and shredding a hard cheese, which may require a more powerful motor. Accessories such as blender and juicer attachments may allow a food processor to perform the duties of other appliances.
Design and operation
The base of the unit houses a motor which turns a vertical shaft. A bowl, usually made of transparent plastic, fits around the shaft. Cutting blades can be attached to the shaft; these fit so as to operate near the bottom of the bowl. Shredding or slicing disks can be attached instead; these spin near the top of the bowl. A lid with a "feed tube" is then fitted onto the bowl.
The feed tube allows ingredients to be added while chopping or slicing. It also serves as a chute through which items are introduced to shredding or slicing disks. A "pusher" is provided, sized to slide through the feed tube, protecting the user's fingers.
Almost all modern food processors have safety devices which prevent the motor from operating if the bowl is not properly secured to the base or if the lid is not properly secured to the bowl.
Variations
A food chopper is basically a food processor of a smaller size. It is also better suited for chopping food than making smoothies.
Food Processor vs Food Chopper: Which Should You Choose?
''TheFoodChopper.com'', accesat la 19 mai 2017
See also
*Blade grinder
A blade grinder, also known as propeller grinder, is a machine that chops material while mixing it, by means of a high-speed spinning blade. Applications of blade grinders for preparing foods include numerous electric kitchen appliances such as ...
*Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...
*Bread machine
A bread making machine or breadmaker is a home appliance for baking bread. It consists of a bread pan (or "tin"), at the bottom of which are one or more built-in paddles, mounted in the center of a small special-purpose oven. This small oven is ...
*Coffee grinder
A burr mill, or burr grinder, is a mill used to grind hard, small food products between two revolving abrasive surfaces separated by a distance usually set by the user. When the two surfaces are set far apart, the resulting ground material is co ...
* Electric pressure cooking
*Food processing
Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...
* Ultrasonic homogenizer
*Grater
A grater, also known as a shredder, is a kitchen utensil used to grate foods into fine pieces.
Uses
Food preparation
Several types of graters feature different sizes of grating slots, and can therefore aid in the preparation of a variety of ...
, a non-electric kitchen cutting implement
*Home robot
A domestic robot is a type of service robot, an autonomous robot that is primarily used for household chores, but may also be used for education, entertainment or therapy. While most domestic robots are simplistic, some are connected to Wi-Fi ...
*Mandoline
file:Cooking Mandolin with Carrot.jpg, A mandoline used for slicing a carrot
A mandoline (US, ) or mandolin (British, /ˌmandəˈlɪn/, /ˈmandəlɪn/, /ˈmandl̩ɪn/), is a culinary utensil used for slicing and for cutting Julienning, juliennes ...
, a kitchen cutting device that uses similar styles of blades to some food processors
*Multicooker
A multicooker (also written "multi cooker") is an electric kitchen appliance for automated cooking using a timer. A typical multicooker is able to boil, simmer, bake, fry, deep fry, grill roast, stew, steam and brown food.
The device is oper ...
*Donvier Donvier is a brand of popular Japanese-made ice cream makers, originally produced by Nippon Light Metal and distributed in the US by Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Com ...
References
External links
Howstuffworks "How Food Processors Work"
{{Authority control
Food preparation appliances
Garde manger
Products introduced in 1946
20th-century inventions
German inventions