Ask any food writer if they’re a control freak in the kitchen, and they’ll probably casually deny things at first – then, under further questioning, break down and admit that yes, they can’t can’t stand someone else being in charge when it comes to food. I’m no different. It’s my pantry, I do what I want, as the famous phrase says.
So how would I fare if this control was skillfully taken out of my hands and plunged into the nebulous depths of AI technology? I know that one day it will probably take over my writing job, but will it also be able to take over the food side of things? To find out, I left Chat GPT (which has made headlines for everything from write student essays has create articles for major media), generates my meal ideas for an entire week.
Here’s how I got out of it.
Day One – Jerk Chicken and Rice
The day I was asked to write this article, a friend offered to cook me dinner. When I arrived he admitted he was waiting for me to arrive to suggest something we could do. After explaining that I was abandoning this task for a week, we plugged our available ingredients into Chat GPT – chicken thighsonions, assorted vegetables like broccoli And Red peppersmore rice, and a little jerk-style spice paste that needed to be used – and let him come up with a recipe.
He suggested a platter of fairly safe roasted jerk chicken with vegetables and rice. The only weird thing was that he wanted us to cut a raw onion into the rice before cooking it, so I put my foot down for the first (and not last) time in this challenge, and we chose roast the quartered onions. next to the other vegetables.
In terms of results, the timings worked, the chicken was well cooked and everything was ready at the same time.
Creativity of ideas 6/10 | Instructions 7/10 | Results 8/10
Day 2 – Black Bean Quesadillas
The second day I had a vegetarian friend over. We wanted something quick and easy to eat in front of the new The Bridgerton Chronicles spin-off, so I asked Chat GPT for 10 quick vegetarian meal options. He spat out some pretty pointless stuff (Lentil soup, Chickpea curryroasted vegetables), but one of the ideas suggested was quesadillasthat I haven’t had in ages.
I asked him for more detailed suggestions on how to fill them out. He gave us a recipe using Black beans, which was great because I already had a big box of blighters on hand. And, sure, the recipe – not that you really need one for quesadillas – worked well, but could have used some more exciting spice options and left us with quite a few leftover beans.
Creativity of ideas 8/10 | Instructions 10/10 | Results 7/10
Day 3 – Wild Garlic, Chicken and Potato Soup
On the third day, I found myself offering to cook dinner for my family, using leftovers roast chickencold roasted potatoes and an abundance of wild garlic gathered for a walk at lunchtime. Like everyone else in the UK in the spring, I was in desperate need of a wild garlic recipe other than pesto, so I plugged this request into Chat GPT and it offered me 5 different ideas, including a soup. Inspired by this, but still needing a way to use up leftovers, I asked him to come up with a soup recipe using chicken, potato and wild garlic, which he did.
The ingredient list and quantities made sense. The method, however, suggested pureeing the chicken pieces with the potatoes. For me, part of the joy of chicken soup is that it still has a little texture left, so I didn’t do that – and I also didn’t mix in the wild garlic, because if it is left on the fire it can become bitter. Instead, I left it to disappear at the end.
At this point everything tasted good, but one thing Chat GPT has missed in his recipes so far was any sort of acidity or brightness, so I went off-piste and squeezed half a lemon at the end. This helped enormously and my mother and her partner were very impressed.
Creativity of ideas 9/10 | Instructions 6.5/10 | Results 9/10
Day 4 – AI becomes a moralizing fitness influencer
I knew I was going to eat out after drinking a significant amount of alcohol on the fourth day. So I asked Chat GPT if I should have pizza or one kebab After. Irritatingly, it suggested I make myself a jumped up rather than doing unhealthy things like drinking alcohol and eating pizza or kebabs in the first place. So I completely ignored this advice and asked him if I should have pepperoni or mushrooms on my pizza.
Once again, like a stubborn toddler, he refused to decide for me. So I asked him which one he would choose in terms of health, so he had a good bit of logic to munch on. He chose mushrooms, but still insisted that pizza was a pleasure food. After 4 wines, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear so I got the pepperoni one out of spite.
Creativity of ideas 2/10 (points for boldness) | Instructions 0/10 | Results 9/10 (the pepperoni pizza was great)
Day 5 – Chinese steamed eggs
I was insatiably hungry on the fifth day. In the morning I ate all over the kitchen, taking random items out of the cupboards and putting them in my face, hoping that in the afternoon I would turn into a beautiful butterfly. But by midday I knew that wasn’t going to happen and that I needed proper food.
I had plenty eggs, but I needed ideas that didn’t involve putting them on toast, since I had eaten all the bread in my hunger that morning. I asked Chat GPT for 10 different ideas for egg recipes that didn’t involve scrambling, boiling, frying, or poaching, and one of his suggestions was Chinese-Style Steamed Eggs . So I asked him for a detailed recipe and it was by far the best thing he had come up with all week: the eggs were creamy, slippery and comforting, and when I garnished it with the suggested spring onions and the soy sauce was wonderful. Definitely one that I will make on repeat.
Creativity of ideas 10/10 | Instructions 9/10 | Results 9/10
Day 6 – Black Bean Soup
On the sixth day, I asked what to do with the leftover beans from the quesadilla, and this suggested soup. However, with some of the other recipes he had given me so far, there was no indication of serving size, so I clarified this time that I just wanted one serving.
Good as gold, it produced an individual serving Black bean soup recipe, which I followed to the letter, eyebrows raised at the suggestion of just ½ cup of broth (that’s only 118 ml) and 1/2 cup of beans. As expected, this gave me a portion that could have satisfied an elderly hummingbird, so I mixed in more beans and more broth, and topped it with feta, chopped red peppers which flowed immediately and I served it with hot buttered toast. This could have used a lot more seasoning, possibly an anchovy or two melted with the onions at first, but a little dark soy sauce improved it no end.
Creativity of ideas 7/10 | Instructions 5/10 (not big enough) | Results 6/10 (not fabulous)
Day 7: Ricotta Tart, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil.
The week before this challenge, I bought a jar of ricotta and I hadn’t managed to use it yet, so I asked Chat GPT for 10 different recipes for tasty ricotta. They all looked pretty good, but the one that caught my eye was the suggestion of a ricotta and tomato pie which used puff pastry as a base.
The idea for the tart was to mix parmesan, egg and ricotta, spread it over the dough, top with tomatoes and basil and bake. It worked very well. The ratios were absolutely perfect and it tasted pretty good too. I would have added nutmeg to the topping and saved the basil until the end of cooking, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Creativity of ideas 8/10 | Instructions 9/10 | Results 9/10
Some ideas
And so, dear Delish Diary, this concludes my week of letting Chat GPT choose my meals.
What have I learned?
Well, this AI is only as good as the prompts you give it. He responds more creatively and more effectively the more details he can chew on – for example, asking him for 10 vegetarian meal ideas yielded relatively uninspiring results, but asking him for 10 ways to cook eggs that doesn’t are not boiled, poached, scrambled or fried meant it offered much newer options.
It’s also a good way to give yourself new ways to use things in your fridge. I’m relatively adept at this myself as I have a crippling desire to not eat the same meal more than twice a month (I know, I know) but if you’re a bit stuck in a rut then it’s is excellent for helping you think outside the box.
Coming to the details, the recipes are generally quite simple, both in their ingredients and in the way they are written. Everything I tried could have done with a little more seasoning and more punch on the palate, but the recipes were truly impeccable in terms of ratios and timings; Portion size was a bit more of an issue, but that’s probably because I’m a sweet tooth.
Of course, Chat GPT is not a real human. He can’t taste things for you, or tell you how much salt you really need, or tell you stories about the seasoning mixes his mother used when he was just a young chatbot . So by all means, use it to help you discover what you would like to eat. Once that’s taken care of, go offline, find a human being who’s written a food blog, cookbook, or website like this – and cook your food with a little more soul. Because no matter how smart he gets or how many jobs he replaces, Chat GPT will never have one.
Fliss Freeborn is a Delish UK contributor and freelance food writer based in Glasgow with a passion for thrifty cooking. She is the youngest panel member on the BBC R4 show. The kitchen cabinetand is currently working on her first cookbook which will be published in the UK in July 2023.
When she’s not raiding yellow-stickered supermarket fridges or eating cheddar and chutney toast, you’ll find her galloping around the Scottish Highlands with a tent on her back and a pork pie in my pocket.
