Best of CES 2023: Nutrition tracking and a very smart mixer

LAS VEGAS (AP) — From an AI oven that promises to warn you when your food is about to burn to a mixing bowl designed to take the hassle out of tracking calories, food tech was a key theme at this year's CES tech show in Las Vegas.

Brad Jashinsky, a director analyst at research firm Gartner, said big companies often use CES to make attention-seeking announcements about products that are currently out of reach for most consumers, but may become more widespread and affordable in the coming years.

Samsung's bespoke AI oven comes with a camera inside that it says can warn you when your food is about to burn. It's available in Europe but not yet North America, where a price has not been announced.

Also on display was tech aimed at the food industry. Yo-Kai Express, creator of an autonomous restaurant that can quickly make ramen 24-7, offered a scaled-down version for small retailers and co-working spaces. Several startups showed tech that could help restaurants and others reduce food waste and improve supply chains, which Jashinsky said could have a huge impact on their bottom lines.

For those who want to become better home cooks, there was plenty of tech aimed at mostly affluent consumers.

Here are some products that caught our eye:

EASIER NUTRITION TRACKING

VersaWare is designed for people frustrated by trying to track their nutrition in traditional apps.

It provides a cutting board and a mixing bowl, each attached to a phone-sized device that will display recipes and other information. As you cook, you note what ingredient you're adding and it weighs it and calculates the nutritional information. At the end, you have the statistics for whatever you're making without having to do the math yourself.

The appliances will sync to the company's app, which will include recipes...