upstill@ucbvax.UUCP (01/15/84)
As the owner of a large cookbook collection, I am continually frustrated
by the process of finding a recipe which uses ingredients I have on hand. What
this usually amounts to is a linear search through my current favorite
book looking for recipes that contain ingredients I have and none that I
don't have. This is always time-consuming, endlesssly aggravating, and is
generally unsuccessful i.e. I still have to go to the store for something.
Does this sound familiar?
Does this sound like a computable problem?
Sounds like it to me. I fact I have a pretty good idea of how to
solve it. Those of you who have dealt with bibliographic databases know
what I mean: there, a reference is found by applying a list of keywords;
all references containing all of the keywords are offered forth.
Substitute 'recipe' for 'reference' and 'ingredient' for 'keyword' and
you begin to get the idea. Let us visualize a conversational system
which queries the user as to what hse feels like cooking (genre, cooking
time, other imponderable considerations) and then asks for a list of
ingredients (omitting, of course, staples which can be assumed to be in
stock). The system then spits out a list of recipes tailor-made to the
mood of the moment, and the user runs off to the cutting board with nary
a thought of the store.
Primary design considerations would have to include:
1) Similarity of ingredients (i.e. fresh vs. canned tomatoes)
2) Distinguishing (assumable) staples (salt, flour) from key ingredients
(those not in continuous supply or those likely to be special-requested,
like sweet red peppers) from wierd stuff one has in the freezer that would
get used up if you thought to include it in the query.
The trouble with this fantasy is, it needs to be executed, and I am
two ways lazy: too lazy to build the system (right) myself, and unwilling
to type in all the thousands of recipes (or at least sufficient indexing
information) I have on hand. Thus my query: Is anyone else in netland
interested in such a system? Does anyone know if one exists? If it
came into being, would it be too much to hope that people would individually
index one cookbook apiece and share the commonly-formatted results with the
rest of us? I am certainly willing to help with the system itself and will
definitely be typing in several books if it all comes to pass. (Please note
that there are no copyright problems at all with publishing an index of this
nature)
Reply to me or, in case of epiphany, to the net.
From the Anxious Breadboard of
Steve Upstilljim@randvax.ARPA (Jim Gillogly) (01/25/84)
----- I hesitate to respond, considering that the net has already declared recipe programs a waste of your computer's time, but, reluctantly, I must admit that I've written a program that does just what you're looking for. It's called Computer Chef, and it's available on the IBM PC and clones, Zenith Z100, and hordes of CP/M machines (including Apple II with CP/M card). Features include the ability to search for recipes that include particular ingredients (what shall I do with 1 left-over block of tofu (for you Californians)), or for keywords (user-defined, not canned), or for titles. The tricky part is that recipes can get scaled and still end up in English units that you can find on your measuring spoons. Not that tricky, though - it doesn't understand about not scaling up various spices. Nor do I - I left that part to my three co-authors, local housewives who supplied the recipes. If that's what you're looking for, I can supply more info by direct mail. Jim Gillogly I/ / randvax!jim I_/ jim@rand-unix I