Since its launch, I’ve mainly used ChatGPT to help me summarize academic articles and brainstorm ideas. Yesterday, I decided to let the LLM help me decide what to eat that night (OpenAI, 2024).
I rearranged the ingredients in my fridge so the main items were visible, moving condiments toward the back. I took a picture and uploaded it to ChatGPT with the prompt:
“What can I make for dinner tonight with these ingredients? I’m willing to go to the store for some additional ingredients needed.”
That’s it—just as if I asked a friend on the phone for a suggestion on what to make for dinner tonight, I asked the OpenAI model.
What it returned blew me away: (please note that formatted the output for visual appearances in this blog post).
“Here’s a simple recipe using the ingredients you have, plus some optional additions you could pick up from the store.
Butterscotch Pumpkin and Vegetable Curry
Ingredients from your pantry/fridge:
- Butterscotch pumpkin
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Red bell peppers
- Onions
- Potatoes (optional, for a heartier curry)
- Curry powder or paste (red or yellow)
Additions from the store (optional):
- Coconut milk (for a creamier curry)
- Fresh cilantro (for garnish)
- Protein like chickpeas, tofu, or chicken
Instructions:
- Prepare the Veggies: Peel and cube the butterscotch pumpkin, and chop the zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, and potatoes.
- Sauté the Aromatics: In a large pot, sauté the onions in oil until they’re translucent.
- Add Spices: If you have curry powder or paste, add it to the onions and cook for a minute to release the flavours. If you’re using the peanut sauce as a curry base, add it now along with a dash of water.
- Add Veggies: Add the butterscotch pumpkin, carrots, and potatoes (if using). Let them cook for a few minutes.
- Simmer: Add coconut milk (if using) or water/stock, and simmer until the pumpkin and other veggies are tender (about 20 minutes).
- Add Other Veggies: Toss in zucchini and bell peppers, letting them cook for the last 5-7 minutes.
- Season: Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, or a touch of sugar if needed.
- Serve: Serve your curry over rice (you have poke rice) and garnish with fresh cilantro if you like.
This will result in a rich, creamy, and slightly sweet curry with the pumpkin flavor shining through!Would you like to go ahead with this, or need adjustments?”
Amazing, right?! I was instantly inspired to cook this delicious-sounding meal and ran to the store for some chicken thighs and cilantro. Lucky for me, I already had the coconut milk, which the AI didn’t recognize in the picture.
For this blog post, I asked GPT to create an image inspired by this recipe:
While writing this blog post, I wondered if ChatGPT could give me an accurate estimate of the nutritional value of the dish, so I asked:
Caloric breakdown (per serving):
- B. Pumpkin (100g)
- Calories: 45
- Carbohydrates: 11g
- Protein: 1g
- Fat: 0g
- Carrots (50g)
- Calories: 20
- Carbohydrates: 4.5g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Fat: 0g
- Zucchini (50g)
- Calories: 8
- Carbohydrates: 1.5g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Fat: 0g
- Total:
- Calories: 605 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 86g
- Protein: 28.8g
- Fat: 15.5g
- Bell Pepper (50g)
- Calories: 15
- Carbohydrates: 3g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Fat: 0g
- Onion (30g)
- Calories: 12
- Carbohydrates: 3g
- Protein: 0.3g
- Fat: 0g
- Coconut Milk (50ml)
- Calories: 90
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Protein: 1g
- Fat: 9g
- Curry Paste (15g)
- Calories: 25
- Carbohydrates: 5g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Fat: 0g
- Rice (200g cooked)
- Calories: 260
- Carbohydrates: 56g
- Protein: 5g
- Fat: 0.5g
- Chicken Thighs (100g)
- Calories: 130
- Carbohydrates: 0g
- Protein: 19g
- Fat: 6g
I am stunned! I checked the values online, and the caloric values only differed slightly (Grutto, 2024a; Voedingscentrum, 2024b). Not only does it give dinner suggestions and inspire me to make dinner with the ingredients I already have at home, but I can also keep a rough estimate of the macros I’ve consumed.
Imagine being on a diet and going out to eat with a friend. You want to keep track of your caloric intake but don’t want to bother bringing a scale to weigh your food with every new dish. Now you just take a picture, upload it to your Instagram story, and later upload it to ChatGPT to make a nutritional value estimate for you.
While this experience was undeniably impressive for me, it’s important to consider some limitations. For instance, the AI didn’t recognize the coconut milk in my picture, which was a key ingredient in the recipe it suggested. This highlights that image recognition technology isn’t foolproof, and you cannot rely on it 100%.
Also, while the nutritional estimates were close to official sources, they weren’t exact. For those with strict dietary requirements or allergies, relying solely on AI for nutritional information might not be a wise idea.
Lastly, uploading photos of your fridge or meals means sharing personal data with an AI service and thus can be a privacy concern. It’s important to be mindful of what you’re sharing and know how that data might be used or stored.
My experiment with using ChatGPT as a personal AI-chef was both enlightening and exciting. The ease of requesting a tailored dinner suggestion and a nutritional breakdown based on the contents of my fridge, shows me the potential of AI in everyday life. While there are limitations to consider, the benefits show a glimpse of the exciting future to come.
In the end, I find it amazing how the technology I first only use as a study and search tool, can also inspire me in other parts of everyday life. With my personal AI-chef, dinner dilemmas are a thing of the past.
Bibliography
Grutto, 2024, Bio Kipdijfilets bereiding en informatie Grutto! Available at: https://www.grutto.com/nl/vleesstuk/bio-kipdijfilet.
OpenAI, 2024, ChatGPT Available at: https://chatgpt.com.
Voedingscentrum, 2024, Hoeveel calorieën zitten erin? – Caloriechecker | Voedingscentrum Available at: https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/vraag-en-antwoord/gezonde-voeding-en-voedingsstoffen/hoeveel-calorieen-zitten-erin-.aspx.
