<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> A rice cooker or rice steamer is an automated kitchen appliance designed to boil or steam rice . It consists of a heat source, a cooking bowl, and a thermostat . The thermostat measures the temperature of the cooking bowl and controls the heat . Complex rice cookers may have many more sensors and other components, and may be multipurpose . </P> <P> The term rice cooker formerly applied to non-automated dedicated rice - cooking utensils, which have an ancient history (a ceramic rice steamer dated to 1250 BC is on display in the British Museum). It now applies mostly to automated cookers . Electric rice cookers were developed in Japan, where they are known as pressure cookers suihanki (炊飯 器). </P>

What is the point of a rice cooker