This holiday season, a voice-controlled virtual assistant (in the form of Amazon Echo or Google Home) turned out to be one of the most popular gifts. If you’re the newfound owner of one of these futuristic devices, you’re in luck: It just became easier than ever to cook and consume food, because of the following functions:
• Create and edit a shopping list: The second you pour your last drop of olive oil, you can shout to Alexa to remind you to purchase more. Or, you can order your condiments directly through Amazon.
• Set a timer so you don’t overcook your steak yet another time.
• Ask questions about measurements, so you can halve recipes with ease.
• Learn nutrition information, like how many calories are in eggnog. (Not a recommended function until January.)
• In September, the Food Network partnered with Amazon so that you can say, “Alexa, enable the Food Network skill,” and receive the recipes from specific shows, a programming schedule, and more. (If only Alexa could sound just like Ina Garten.)
• After letting you drunkenly order pizza right through Twitter, Domino’s went one step further by creating programs on both Google Home and Amazon’s devices. On the latter, you just have to slur, “Alexa, trigger ‘order pizza.’”
• Make restaurant reservations — which will certainly come in handy after reading this.
