CookUnity

The Fantasy of a Personal Chef, with CookUnity | The New Yorker

"I received a large tote filled with a dozen sealed, single-serving cardboard containers from CookUnity, a subscription-based delivery service that offers between four and sixteen fully cooked, ready-to-heat (or ready-to-eat) meals from up to three hundred options each week; its marketing evokes the fantasy of having a personal chef. The company identifies as a “collective of independent chefs,” delivers to twenty-seven states, recently raised $15.5 million, and has chefs prepare meals in CookUnity’s commissary or in their own kitchens (some have been able to hire back furloughed staff). The service caters to current dietary trends—paleo, vegan, gluten-free—and promises humanely raised meat and a “no” stance on G.M.O.s; government rules require calorie counts on the meals, and the system can’t account for impulse, but for me it solved the boredom and coordination of cooking by providing five days of diverse, low-effort dishes for a subscription starting at $53.96 for four meals." - Hannah Goldfield