Project discussion/feedback - Recipe search engine & culinary chatbot

[akp]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm an enthusiastic home cook and a data scientist by trade. Over the past few years, I've spent considerable time tinkering with culinary data and building various tools for cooking.

 

I've always found searching for high-quality recipes online to be frustrating. There are only a handful of sites I genuinely trust, and even then, navigating through their search and browsing interfaces is quite tedious. Finding something specific isn't (usually) too difficult, but the experience quickly breaks down when trying to explore or discover something new.

 

Motivated by this, I built a curated search engine that indexes recipes from only the top sites, tags them in a sophisticated way, and makes everything searchable/discoverable in a single place (the intent would be to bring books into this too, kind of like a next-gen and more discovery-oriented Eat Your Books).

 

Alongside this, I'm experimenting with (carefully) integrating AI to create a culinary-focused chatbot. This would create the ability to ask nuanced, open-ended questions directly to culinary authorities across cuisines and get sophisticated responses (with sources) — for example, asking Rick Bayless or Heston Blumenthal directly for an ingredient substitution or recipe modification (distinctly different from generic responses that ChatGPT would produce).

 

I'd appreciate your honest feedback:

• Do you find it challenging to reliably find high-quality, specific recipes?
• How do you typically discover new recipes or engage in open-ended culinary exploration?
• When you have nuanced cooking questions -- beyond a simple Google search -- where do you currently turn for answers? (besides here of course, haha)

 

Your thoughts, critiques, and any insights would be hugely helpful. Thanks in advance!

 

Lastly, while this truly isn’t a promotional post, I’m happy to share the link for anyone interested in checking it out or providing more hands-on feedback. Cheers

[IndyRob]

It sounds like a good idea.  The proof will be in the results.  I'd definitely be interested in looking at it.

[liuzhou]

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54 minutes ago, akp said:

from only the top sites

 

This phrase stood out to me. How are the 'top sites' decided upon? What criteria?

 

This is a very subjective choice. There are highly popular sites which I find terrible and I've never found any one site that is strong on all cuisines or areas of culinary effort. Recipes, too are very personal. One person's favourite recipe for a dish may well not be my first or even tenth choice.

Some sites have great writers and bad writers. And people have their own quirks. Some famous and 'influential' cooks irritate the hell out of me and I steer clear of them.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

55 minutes ago, akp said:

recipes from only the top sites

Could you say a bit more about the curation of the top sites?  
Strictly online sources? With or without paywalls?  Books? Historical manuscripts?

58 minutes ago, akp said:

Do you find it challenging to reliably find high-quality, specific recipes?

No.  Eat Your Books is my search tool of choice, but I also search here and a few other places.  
 

1 hour ago, akp said:

How do you typically discover new recipes or engage in open-ended culinary exploration?

Again, I use EYB often, along with eGullet and a number of online cooking groups I participate in.  

 

1 hour ago, akp said:

When you have nuanced cooking questions -- beyond a simple Google search -- where do you currently turn for answers? (besides here of course, haha)

Same as the previous question.

 

While I’m pretty happy with EYB, I know of people here who would like to search for  parameters they don’t routinely index, like a specific cooking appliance so perhaps your tool would be superior for them?

[IndyRob]

Isn't EYB just for cookbooks you own?

[TdeV]

3 minutes ago, IndyRob said:

Isn't EYB just for cookbooks you own?

 

YES. Also I believe it just lists the name of a recipe from a book you own (where you have to go look up the recipe).

[ElsieD]

41 minutes ago, TdeV said:

 

YES. Also I believe it just lists the name of a recipe from a book you own (where you have to go look up the recipe).

That has been my experience.

[blue_dolphin]

51 minutes ago, IndyRob said:

Isn't EYB just for cookbooks you own?

 

Not necessarily.
But as @TdeV indicates, if you need access to the full recipe, you do need access to the book or to the online resources where it resides. However, even if  you own no books at all, it’s still possible to run useful searches specifically requesting online recipes.
On occasions where a search of my EYB bookshelf (my own books, magazines, blogs, etc plus library books I’ve cooked from often and chosen to add to my shelf with a “library” tag) comes up wanting, I can search the entire EYB library. When I do this, I’m not necessarily looking for a full recipe, but may be considering, say, a dessert using saffron and figs and wondering whether people tend to use dairy or citrus or other ingredients so I’m happy to skim the ingredient listings from a number of recipes for ideas.  

Additionally, since I make good use of my local library and the larger Los Angeles Public Library, I can often borrow ebooks that come up in those searches and have the full recipes in minutes if I want.  I did that at least 3 times last week.

Edited Friday at 11:44 PM by blue_dolphin (log)

[pastrygirl]

4 hours ago, akp said:

I'm experimenting with (carefully) integrating AI to create a culinary-focused chatbot. This would create the ability to ask nuanced, open-ended questions directly to culinary authorities across cuisines and get sophisticated responses (with sources) — for example, asking Rick Bayless or Heston Blumenthal directly for an ingredient substitution or recipe modification (distinctly different from generic responses that ChatGPT would produce).

 

How would the chatbot gain direct access to these chefs, and why would they respond to a bot over humans?

 

[IndyRob]

21 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

How would the chatbot gain direct access to these chefs, and why would they respond to a bot over humans?

 

I think the implication is that you would get a synthesized answer based on the chef's previous writings.

 

I don't think the AI aspect would be particularly useful (and would probably be lawsuit bait).  But if you had a database of recipes (which are not copyrightable) from only reputable sources, that could be valuable - even if some may disagree about who is reputable.

[TdeV]

@IndyRob, how does one have recipes which are not copyrightable?

[SLB]

You can include preferred websites and blogs in your EYB library, as long as they are independently within their indexed base.

[TdeV]

31 minutes ago, SLB said:

independently within their indexed base.

 

SLB, what does this mean?

[IndyRob]

2 hours ago, TdeV said:

@IndyRob, how does one have recipes which are not copyrightable?

Recipes are not copyrightable unless the instructions are particularly creative.  And even then, the list of ingredients isn't covered by the copyright.

[SLB]

@TdeV sorry to have been unclear.  I mean that the EYB universe includes several online recipe sources, which apparently have been been indexed.  If you include them in your personal library, your searches will produce results from those sites as well as your designated books and magazines.  For example, my library includes 7 "blogs", like Smitten Kitchen, Food52, etc.  

Edited 3 minutes ago by SLB (log)