We've used a Japanese multi cooker for years. Tiger brand. Does rice, steaming, slow cooked stews and soups, even cakes and yoghurt. I'm very surprised at everyone talking as though the Instant Pot invented it.
The key difference is that the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker, which ordinary rice/multi-cookers are not, they just heat the pot to boil water until the temperature reaches a cutoff point.
Electric pressure cookers were invented in the US in the 1950s. The instant pot is pretty much identical to the one my grandmother had in the 1990s (I think presto).
jpatokal|8 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_cooker#/media/File:Electr...
mattmaroon|8 years ago