Food preparation apparatus and method

Abstract

Disclosed is a food preparation apparatus () comprising a food preparation compartment (); a dielectric sensor () in said food preparation compartment, a data storage device () storing food seasoning data as a function of a dielectric constant of the food product, said food seasoning data relating to a plurality of condiments to be added to the food product; and a processor arrangement () coupled to said dielectric sensor. The processor arrangement is adapted to determine a dielectric property of a food product in the food preparation compartment from sensor data provided by said dielectric sensor; retrieve food seasoning data for the food product corresponding to the determined dielectric property from the data storage device; and, for each condiment of said plurality generate a seasoning instruction signal for adding an amount of said condiment of said plurality to the food product based on the retrieved food seasoning data until all condiments of said plurality have been added to the food product. A method of automatically generating seasoning instructions for adding a plurality of condiments to a food product during preparation of the food product is also disclosed.