Apicius

Explorations in recipe visualization. Right now, this just implements a DSL for describing recipes in a graph-like way. A basic Apicius recipe looks like this:

scrambled eggs {
  [2] eggs -> whisk -> stir & butter -> DONE;
}

The name of the recipe is scrambled eggs and it consists of one rule. This rule starts with an ingredient where the amount of the ingredient is marked with [...], and then has a set of actions. Actions can optionally include ingredients after a & character, which is supposed to be used for garnishes, seasonings, or incidental ingredients like flour used as a thickener or oil used as a medium for cooking.

A recipe can include multiple rules, and you join them together using join points, which are written with a dollar sign:

nicer scrambled eggs {
  [1/2] onion + [1 clove] garlic
    -> chop coarsely -> sautee & butter -> $mix;
  [2] eggs -> whisk -> $mix;
  $mix -> stir & salt -> DONE;
}

This recipe includes a join point called $mix, which combines two previously separate threads of preparation. Rules can begin with either ingredients or join points, and actions can be either textual descriptions of what to do or join points. You can also include a join point as part of a longer chain, so the above recipe could also be written as

nicer scrambled eggs v2 {
  [1/2] onion + [1 clove] garlic
    -> chop coarsely -> sautee & butter -> $mix -> stir & salt -> DONE;
  [2] eggs -> whisk -> $mix;
}

So the handwavey grammar of recipe descriptions is

recipe      ::= text '{' rule* '}'
rule        ::= ( ingredients | join ) '->' action ('->' action) * ';'
ingredients ::= ingredient ('+' ingredient)
ingredient  ::= ( '[' text ']' )? text
action      ::= join | text ('&' ingredients)?