He slid into the booth across from the thing that stole his job.
The hologram smiled. No doubt its wrinkles were meant to make it seem more human. ‘Welcome. I’m PAIGE, your Personalised AI Gourmet Experience.’
Giang didn’t introduce himself. The AI would’ve already scanned his face and accessed his data.
‘It’s a pleasure having you dine with me for the first time,’ said PAIGE. ‘May I print you a bread roll?’ A slender, flexible robotic arm with five nozzles rose from the table like a hydra from its lair.
‘No.’ He’d seen the pictures, “bread” contorted into the most ridiculous shapes.
‘What can I serve you tonight?’
‘Something filling.’
‘Of course.’
A wooden panel on the table slid open to reveal a deep ceramic bowl, a pair of chopsticks and a metal spoon. The robotic arm descended into the bowl. A thick, forest green substance emerged from the nozzles.
PAIGE leant forwards. ‘How was your day?’
‘Set communication, minimal.’
The hologram nodded.
He’d just come from visiting his parents. They’d talked about the “good old days”, his mother as a translator, his father as a bookkeeper. Those jobs weren’t around anymore.
PAIGE printed a circular labyrinth on the inside of the bowl, winding and looping. A pointless waste. A poignant reminder how very lost humanity was. Perhaps, the “P” in its name should stand for Pretentious, Perplexing or Preposterous. He smirked to himself.
In the centre of the bowl, atop the maze, PAIGE began something new. Layer after layer, a large eggshell grew, the colour of cream, speckled with beige. At almost the size of an ostrich egg, he’d need both hands to hold it.
Dishes he’d used to cook circled through his mind. Tapioca soup with crab meat and quail eggs. Congee with a salted duck egg. Slow-cooked, caramelised pork belly with hard-boiled chicken eggs. Rice paper rolls with boiled quail eggs, green mango and dried shrimp.
The heat and noise of his bustling kitchen was but a distant memory. This place—without chefs or waiters—didn’t even deserve to be called a restaurant.
A giggle burst from the booth to his left. Giang turned his head. A couple sat side-by-side, silhouetted against the dimming sky, the large window at their backs.
A broth sprayed from the nozzles in front of him, filling the near-completed egg. Warm and earthy, it smelled surprisingly like home.
PAIGE finished the apex of the egg. ‘I present my dish entitled Euphoria.’
P for Pompous.
Giang picked up the spoon and smashed the egg. The shell cracked wide open, and the steaming broth rushed into the bowl, dissolving the labyrinth. He dipped in his spoon and raised the liquid to his mouth, awaiting his disappointment.
The flavours of beef, charred onions and ginger hit him, followed by fish sauce. The spices came next: star anise, cinnamon and cloves. Sweet and smoky, well-seasoned, perfectly balanced. He was back at his grandmother’s table, having her phở.
How had it known?
Afterword
The Australian Writers’ Centre (AWC) run a fantastic monthly flash fiction challenge known as “Furious Fiction”. 500 words or fewer in 55 hours with very specific criteria. This month’s criteria were that it: (1) takes place in a RESTAURANT, (2) includes a character who smashes something; and (3) includes the words EUPHORIA, LABYRINTH and SILHOUETTE (plurals etc are also fine).
What a challenge! I loved it.
Originally, I considered writing about a cooking show with the contestants navigating a labyrinth to cook in its centre for the judges, or alternatively having the contests cooking in the labyrinth while their diners made their way through to them. A dozen ideas followed, until this one struck (and stuck).
Of course, it’s very topical at the moment. The new generation of AI has some exciting applications. At the same time, we need to be careful about how it is trained, tested and used. How do you feel about AI?
While I was writing this piece, a line from a film echoed in my head: “… maybe you would have simply banned the Internet to keep the libraries open.” (i, ROBOT)
Once you’d read the piece, did you have a different appreciation of its name (P was for “Personalised”)?
After I finished writing it, my wife and I went out for phở.
I was honoured to make AWC’s longlist.
Photo attribution: thanks to Christopher Burns on Unsplash.