Google Arts & Culture is the search giant’s hub for high-resolution scans of art and cultural artifacts from museums and archives around the world. Like the rest of the company, this conscious platform is actively experimenting with its AI and has launched a new tool to generate fusion recipes that combine two different types of cuisine.
I’m not sure why anyone would want an AI to generate an untested combination of, say, Mexican and Chinese food, rather than seek out recipes from real human chefs with the ability to taste the food, but I’m curious. For those with an open mind, we present the Food Mood tool. It’s here to show you what the bot thinks you should make for dinner.
Food Mood mixes recipes from two different styles of cooking
Food Mood is a Google AI experiment created by artists in the Google Arts & Culture Lab. It is touted as a playful fusion recipe generator that allows you to combine elements of two different cuisines to generate new dishes. (Yes, I double checked, this was not the company’s annual April Fool’s prank.)
Food Mood uses the power of generative AI to do what real chefs learn through years of education, inspiration, sweat and curses in the kitchen. Created by artists Emmanuel Durgoni and Gaël Hugo, this experiment uses Google’s Gemini 1.0 Pro via Vertex AI.
This online tool is easy to use and very intuitive. You tell the AI what type of dish you’re looking for (appetizer, main, soup), how many people you want to serve it to, and what type of dishes you’d like to combine (out of her two choices provided). The list of countries is quite extensive).
click Let’s cook Click a button to generate a recipe (but you can also generate a random recipe).
We chose a starter for two to test, with a mix of Korean and Indian influences. (In my testing, the resulting recipe is not very complicated and should be good enough to cook at home.)
Food Mood offers several options for customizing recipes. Clicking the slider icon on the main page reveals modifiers that tell the AI whether you prefer a vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free diet, for example. You can also add your own material list. There is an auto-suggest menu with up to three selections.
Credit: Screenshot by Saikat Basu
Whether or not the end result is a recipe for something you actually want to eat, recipe pages are a remarkable showcase of Google’s evolving AI capabilities. Creates a clean layout with trendy names, step-by-step instructions, cooking times, and pro tips on one side. There are also photos of AI-generated dishes (?).
Credit: Screenshot by Saikat Basu
Please note the disclaimer included with each recipe.
This experiment uses AI to spark creativity in the kitchen. Recipes are not developed by kitchens or chefs. Please use your best judgment and always prioritize food safety.
AI cookbooks are already here
We all rely on the internet to search for recipes, and sites like AllRecipes and FoodCombo already offer the ability to search for recipes that combine ingredients you have on hand. Food Mood takes it a step further by inventing recipes where none exist (but be aware that they might not actually taste good). Realistically, it’s not difficult for a trained chef. At the very least, you’ll approach the process knowing that you’re asking an AI to cook for you. That’s better than buying a cookbook without knowing it was created by an AI.
