Video Interlude

Watch IBM's Computer-Generated Food Truck in Action

by Erin DeJesus Mar 11, 2014, 1:45pm EDT

As previously reported, the IBM Food Truck invaded SXSW earlier this week, offering dishes concocted using entirely-computer-generated recipes (which often resulted in things like porcini mushrooms in pudding and cauliflower-and-cumin poutine). On its Cognitive Cooking YouTube page, IBM has chronicled the past five days' worth of food experimentation: Each day, the company invited Twitter users to vote for the "dish of the day," then tasked the food-truck computer with generating a recipe. Institute of Culinary Education creative director Michael Laiskonis and chef James Briscione were on-hand to execute the suggested dish, which they served to SXSW crowds.

As expected, the computer recipes churned out the unexpected. Asking for a fish-and-chips recipe resulted in "nothing like a classic fish and chips," Briscione says, with the final dish requiring Caribbean snapper, fennel, plantains, and coriander seed. (It's also a ceviche, because why not.) Day Three's request for a burrito ended up being an Austrian chocolate burrito featuring apricot, cinnamon, and edamame. Below, watch each of the dishes dreamed up by the IBM Food Truck during SXSW: