S4 Ep28: Cooking with Sustainability & Health in Mind: Fisher & Paykel
“A lot of municipalities are considering moving away from gas cooking. It’s where the future is going.” — Leslie Delli-Venneri
“I have to say I’ve been reluctant to convert from gas to induction, but this is an amazing piece of equipment!” — Hilary Pisor
Cooking is one of the top sources of indoor air pollution. Many of us are used to cooking with a gas range, yet few of us are aware that the resulting smoke coming out of our kitchen's chimney is hazardous to our own household’s health. (And to think that we’ve been doing it for years!) But now innovation has produced eco-friendly solutions to this problem. This week, we are looking at one splendid example.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances has completed a design overhaul on their major product lines. These products are not only changing homes everywhere- but changing people’s lives as well. Their induction cooktops are sleek, elegant, and most importantly, SUSTAINABLE. The efficiency of using energy in a heat induction stove makes it worthwhile. Unlike gas stoves that release smoke and raise environmental dangers, induction stoves are safer and produce less radiation. While the environmental benefits of induction stoves are always a hot topic, the “people benefits” are often overlooked. Induction stoves have a unique way of saving people time and keeping them safe, especially in a household with children and seniors.
In this episode, Justine is joined by Leslie Delli-Venneri, Design Development Manager at Fisher & Paykel Appliances, along with Hilary Pisor, a renowned restaurateur, who demonstrates one of Fisher & Paykel’s induction cooktops. Leslie talks about the New Zealand-based Fisher & Paykel, why she is proud to represent the brand, and how it’s changing the food industry by bringing freshness and sustainability not only to the kitchen but the entire home. From Hilary, we learn about why she feels cooking is an essential aspect of sustainable living, her perspective as a chef on the quality of food being prepared using these innovative solutions- and when/if other chefs will be ready to make the sustainable switch from gas to induction.
Connect with Leslie Delli-Venneri:
Leslie Delli-Venneri is the Design Development Manager at Fisher & Paykel Appliances. She specializes in consumer goods design and product development. Fisher & Paykel designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of innovative home appliances developed in the spirit of invention. They design products rooted in a commitment to technology, user-friendliness, and environmental awareness. Their design heritage is founded on a pioneering spirit and a culture of curiosity that has challenged conventional appliance design to consistently deliver products tailored to human needs. Today, Fisher & Paykel is still committed to ongoing research and development that fosters a culture of open innovation.
Connect with Fisher & Paykel:
Episode Highlights:
00:25 A Visit at Fisher & Paykel
03:57 Innovative Techs and Environmental Impact
05:38 Live Cooking Show!
08:04 A Chef’s Perspective on Sustainable Appliances
10:09 Induction Cooking vs Gas Range
Inspirational Quotes:
00:59 “I love the concept of wellness and making things right for people, and people being healthier and having a better life.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
02:44 “I don't think people realize how bad for them their environment can be.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
03:36 “We care that our products last. We care that they're made right. We care that we ship in sustainable packaging. We have goals for the future (including) to become even more sustainable.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
05:18 “A lot of municipalities are considering moving away from gas cooking. It's where the future is going.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
06:46 “I have to say I'd been reluctant to convert from gas to induction, but…this is an amazing piece of equipment!” -Hilary Pisor
09:36 “Most chefs that I've talked to about [induction cooking] are very reluctant. Unless they're put into a situation where they have to adapt, they don't. But once they try it, they're sold.” -Hilary Pisor
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Dine and Design. I'm your co host, Justine Reichman. Today, we have Leslie Delli-Venneri, Design Development Manager. Welcome Leslie.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Thank you so much. It's great to be here.
Justine Reichman: It's great to be here. We're here at Fisher & Paykel, thank you for hosting us here today.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Lovely to have you at our customer experience center.
Justine Reichman: Yeah. We're really excited to be here, and we're excited to learn about you and what you're doing. Because I know that you have a really exciting and different background, and your goals are so innovative. And you've chosen to be here for a lot of different reasons, and I can't wait to share that with our audience.
“I love the concept of wellness and making things right for people, and people being healthier and having a better life.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Thank you so much. I've worked in the design world kind of my whole career, but I really love to be focused on sustainability. I'm a WELL AP, I love the concept of wellness and making things right for people, and people being healthier and having a better life.
Justine Reichman: So wait a sec, before you go on, you gotta tell everybody what's a WELL AP because not everybody knows what a Well AP is.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: It's funny. WELL has kind of come more into focus since the pandemic, actually. And WELL is a building standard, but it picks up where LEED, where you build your building--
Justine Reichman: Because not everybody knows what LEED is.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: LEED is a sustainable building standard, and it measures how sustainable your building is? Or do you use water efficiently? Is your HVAC efficient? Do you have a green roof? Or have you repaired a brownfield to build your building? All of this goes into LEED and LEED is rated gold, silver, basic. And WELL in the same way, and WELL picks up where LEED leaves off. WELL is how the building relates to the people that are in it. So WELL runs everything from, if you have clean water, do you offer (inaudible) lead? It runs the gamut of how people relate to the building and how that building can be better for the people that inhabit it.
Justine Reichman: So how did you get into this industry? What made it so interesting for you?
Leslie Delli-Venneri: I actually kind of ended up in the kitchen and bath world by accident. And I've worked for lots of sustainable companies. I used to sell textiles and furnishings. And it's very hard to go from something beautiful, colorful and tactile to hard white hard surfaces. So sustainability was kind of the thing I latched on to.
“I don't think people realize how bad for them their environment can be.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
Justine Reichman: And was not because of the impact it has on the environment, what interested in--
Leslie Delli-Venneri: The impact it has on the environment, but the impact it has on people in general. That's what drew me to WELL also is the impact it has on people. Sometimes, I don't think people realize how bad for them their environment can be. So that's kind of one of my goals in becoming a WELL AP is to try to educate designers as to how they can make their environments better for their clients and better for the people who are going to live in them.
Justine Reichman: So you've made the choice now to end up at Fisher & Paykel. Why Fisher & Paykel?
“We care that our products last. We care that they're made right. We care that we ship in sustainable packaging. We have goals for the future (including) to become even more sustainable.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Fisher & Paykel is a very human centered brand, and it's a very human centered company. I'm so excited to work for a company that actually cares about the people that work here. Resources cares, the VP of Marketing cares, people care about each other. And in addition to the fact, we have an amazing product, we're a New Zealand based company. And I think because of that, and just the whole philosophy of coming from an island with limited resources, they're sustainable just by nature. We care that our products last. We care that they're made right. We care that we ship and sustainable packaging. We have goals for the future to become even more sustainable. All those things are really important to me. I just can't work for a company that helps to feel connected, and I feel very connected here.
Justine Reichman: Can you talk to me about some of the impacts that these products have on the environment?
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Well, one of the things is like we're standing in front of an induction cooktop. A lot of people are a bit, oh, induction. But it's kind of the up and coming idea gas kind of is going away because of global warming, and environment, and all of that induction has a lot of really great concepts. Things are changing in the world. You have like multi generational homes, which means maybe you have little kids, you have older people, maybe somebody has memory compromised. One of the great things about induction is that the only thing that's hot is the vessel. So like my house, my cats love to jump on my stove. Nobody would get burnt because the only thing that's hot is actually the vessel. So that's really great. It's super easy to clean.
Justine Reichman: What do you mean the vessel?
Leslie Delli-Venneri: The pot, where you're cooking.
Justine Reichman: Oh, the pot.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Imagine there was a little pot cooking here, and if you came up into this, you wouldn't get burnt. If you touch the pot, you would. But the rest of the surface stays nice and cool, which is a really great concept. As I said, it's super easy to clean. It cooks really well. You do have to get adjusted to how quickly induction heats. We got to go to our New York Experience Center when I first started. And the first time I clicked on it, I have to say, I have to start over.
Justine Reichman: So you mentioned it has a positive impact on the environment. Can you talk to me a little bit about that?
“A lot of municipalities are considering moving away from gas cooking. It's where the future is going.” -Leslie Delli-Venneri
Leslie Delli-Venneri: A lot of municipalities are considering moving away from gas cooking. Even though I think gas buys a lot of people and a lot of chefs, it's really a preferred method of cooking. The electrical, it's a lot cleaner. It doesn't use as much energy. All the other things I've mentioned, I think it's kind of where the future is going.
Justine Reichman: Okay, and to that end, I think we have a chef that's coming to cook on it, so maybe we can bring the chef on. And joining us is Hilary Pisor, Restaurant Tour and Chef.
Hilary Pisor: Hi.
Justine Reichman: Hi, welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.
Hilary Pisor: Welcome. Thanks for having me.
Justine Reichman: We're really excited. I can't wait to hear what you're going to be making us today.
Hilary Pisor: Well, this is First Light Wagyu beef from New Zealand.
Justine Reichman: Wonderful.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: So yummy.
Justine Reichman: Can you tell us a little bit about the First Light Beef?
Hilary Pisor: This is Wagyu beef from New Zealand. The farm is called First Light, and it's this beautiful, tender, delicious grass-fed wagyu.
Justine Reichman: That sounds amazing.
Hilary Pisor: Yeah, it really is.
Justine Reichman: I can't wait, shall we?
Hilary Pisor: We shall. Okay.
Justine Reichman: So you're gonna be using the induction of it. So tell us, how do you make this meat in the induction oven?
Hilary Pisor: Well, I love that the induction has this turbo mode where you can boom. Set it to heat up instantly.
“I have to say I'd been reluctant to convert from gas to induction, but…this is an amazing piece of equipment!” -Hilary Pisor
Justine Reichman: Wow, seriously?
Hilary Pisor: Yes. It's like magic. It's so awesome. I have to say I've been reluctant to convert over from gas to induction, but it's been. I have to say, this is an amazing piece of equipment. It goes from zero to 100. And then you can easily dial it back down.
Justine Reichman: So how do you know when it's ready?
Hilary Pisor: Well, that's sort of, that comes with experience.
Justine Reichman: But how do you know when the pan is ready?
Hilary Pisor: That's also how I feel. And you can hear it, start to sizzle a little bit as well.
Justine Reichman: Okay. And what do you put on the pan here? Is it any different preparation?
Hilary Pisor: I usually put a little film on high cooking oil. Today, I'm using an organic sunflower because it doesn't have any taste. We want the taste of the meat to come through. And we're the grill pan, you can kind of smell it. So I'm going to go ahead and put these on, and we're going to leave it all the way on high for just a few moments to get that sear.
Justine Reichman: Now, do you find that this cooks any more quickly or slowly with the induction versus--
Hilary Pisor: I mean, this speed definitely, this turbo--
Leslie Delli-Venneri: I think with the induction, the initial heating is really fast. You have to be ready for that. But once you actually start cooking, it seems to me that it cooks really nicely.
Hilary Pisor: You don't want to watch it, worry. Once it gets really hot, you can start, which saves you time right there. And then it's very easy to control the heat from there.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Like it's great. If you're making spaghetti and you have a huge pot of hot water, your heating time is--
Justine Reichman: Boiling water.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Exactly. That doesn't happen with--
Justine Reichman: Great. Okay, wonderful. And I'm just curious. So have you found that when people are cooking their meals, and they're preparing them that they have, is it a large learning curve for people?
Leslie Delli-Venneri: I think it depends on the person more than just how willing you are to sort of pick up on the differences. Because, as I said, the quickness you have to really be ready for that and you have to pay attention because, especially like she hated the pan first--
Hilary Pisor: And then forget.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: Yeah, you put it into a hot pan, but if you put something in the pan and just put it on straight away, you have to be ready for the fact that you're ready to roll right now.
Hilary Pisor: We're ready to flip.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: That looks amazing.
“Most chefs that I've talked to about [induction cooking] are very reluctant. Unless they're put into a situation where they have to adapt, they don't. But once they try it, they're sold.” -Hilary Pisor
Justine Reichman: And so for chefs, chefs like yourself, are you finding that chefs are really embracing this? Is it changing?
Hilary Pisor: I think the old guard is slow, and is slow to change. And I think that most chefs that I've talked to about it are just very reluctant. And unless they're put into a situation where they have to adapt, they don't. But once they try it, they're sold.
Justine Reichman: And given the impact having on the environment, which Leslie and I were talking about before, why not? I don't know if you guys have done any studies on the impact it's having on the environment.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: I think that a lot of municipalities are making those studies because they're basically making the case for going to something that's all electric as opposed to gas. So I think a lot of the studies are being conducted now, because I think that would be really impactful. And I'm sure to make that transition and enable easier. Anytime you're cooking, you're going to be generating heat. But induction generates less heat than like a huge gas range. So you don't have to work as hard to cool off to your house off because you can feel now that she's cooking if you put--
Justine Reichman: This is not hot at all.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: I mean, don't touch the pan, but you can totally come--
Justine Reichman: A little hesitant to get too close.
Hilary Pisor: It's just barely warm.
Justine Reichman: Yeah. barely warm. Wow. Well, I can't wait to see the whole meal put together. Hilary, thank you so much for putting this together for us.
Leslie Delli-Venneri: I can't wait to get into (inaudible). It's calling my name.
