Achi news desk-
I hope that by repeating this mantra at least two hours a day I can successfully resist the trickle of information being channeled into my brain about how much I need one of these devices and how much my life would change if I owned one.
I’m tired of the constant barrage of information from everywhere and everyone about how amazing they are, how they’ve revolutionized cooking and how they’ve made people’s lives so easy. I’m tired of hearing how people wish they had one hundreds of years ago.
‘It’s a game changer’, ‘my only regret in life is not getting an air fryer sooner’ and ‘I’m in love with my air fryer’, are among the many comments made online by followers.
Air fryers are everywhere. The Guardian’s front page picked up a paper in Tesco at the weekend, promising an ‘air-frying adventure’ – perhaps Bar Grylls took one from Amazon.
On a neighbor’s rack I noticed an AirFyer magazine. No relaxation?
“We wouldn’t be without us – you have to get one,” said my neighbor, who has not one, or even two, but three, of different strengths: the top model is called Ninja – from what he tells me I think it’s the one tested by Nas” A.
An air fryer is one of life’s “must haves”, along with kitchen islands and bi-fold doors. The devices spawned many TV series: ‘Air Fry: Do You Know What You’re Missing?’, ‘Air Fryers Made Easy’, ‘Air Fry: Sunday Lunch Made Easy’.
Now Jamie Oliver is getting into the game with Jamie’s Air Fry Meals. Its air fryer repertoire includes ‘Ultimate’ Bacon Sarnes and ‘Baked’ Grilled Breads and Flatbreads. So many superlatives. It can’t be long before Air Frances: The Movie starring Ryan Gosling and Jennifer Lawrence hits theaters nationwide.
I don’t recall any cooking appliance ever warranting their own TV show before, let alone multiple TV shows. We never got ‘Microwaves: The Revolution’, ‘Aga: Homecoming’ or ‘Invasion of the Pressure Cooker’. What makes it so different? I’m intrigued by the fact that anyone would want to watch an hour-long show about using an item of kitchenware.
Granted, I haven’t seen any of these shows. For all I know, air fryers might make fascinating television, beating Happy Valley and Strictly into a hat.
As for using an air fryer to make a Sunday lunch, I’ve heard you can stick a few ingredients in it, pop into the bathroom and hey presto, there it is. I’m sorry to say I wasn’t convinced. I’m one of those people who wears a hazmat suit to use the microwave, and even then it’s just baking potato chunks before I put them in the real oven. I’ve never used it to cook a real meal.
I’m not convinced that roasting a chicken faster than you can boil an egg is entirely without risk, though what that risk is I don’t know.
I might have relented if I had room for one of these things. Unfortunately, I don’t have one of those kitchens with enough work surface to land a plane on. We can almost fit a toaster, a kettle and a bread tin. So even if I craved one, it would be a click. I guess I could put it on my bedside table.
I’ll just wait it out. It won’t be long until the next fad arrives and air fryers will be so last year.
