Food preparation

An item to be processed using electromagnetic energy, comprising:

• an object comprising a material receptive to processing using electromagnetic energy;
• and
• a machine readable element associated with the object comprising:
• a data storage portion including at least a value indicative of a target amount of energy to be absorbed by the object during processing.

A method for applying electromagnetic energy to an item, comprising:

• receiving an item in a cavity;
• reading processing information from a machine readable element associated with the item;
• acquiring, based on an output detected from the cavity, item information from the item to be processed, wherein the item information includes dielectric information obtainable from the object;
• and
• determining, using a processor, at least one instruction for processing the item using at least the processing information and the item information.

A processing apparatus for delivering electromagnetic energy to an object, comprising:

• an interface configured to receive processing information using information stored on a machine readable element associated with an object to be processed;
• a device for detecting object information relating to the object to be processed, wherein the object information includes dielectric information obtainable from the object;
• and
• at least one processor configured to:
• determine at least one instruction for processing the object based on the processing information and the object information, and
• cause the object to be processed in accordance with the at least one instruction.