IBM Cognitive Cooking and Creative Poutine

Ever have one of those days where you have a few ingredients here and there but don't know what dish you can make without running to the grocery store to buy another few items? Worry not, as Chef Watson can help. When given a handful of ingredients, IBM's Chef Watson can use that data to create new and original recipes.

Named after IBM founder Thomas Watson, IBM Watson is a cognitive computing system that thinks like a human. Chef Watson is part of IBM's efforts to explore if a machine can be creative. Watson can sift through mass amounts of data, recognize patterns, make connections and organize information the same way a human brain would. (If you want to see the massively intelligent Watson, watch this video of it owning at Jeopardy!).

The cool thing about Chef Watson is its ability to analyze billions of times more information than a human chef could consider and to be able to create new, surprising recipes that would actually taste good to most people. I don't think Chef Watson is meant to replace real chefs, but rather to make life easier or provide inspiration.

As a sponsor of last week's La Poutine Week, IBM hosted a poutine tasting event in Toronto (also one in Montreal) and featured five unique poutine recipes that reflect the cultural make up and cuisine preferences of the cities' residents.

Source: Watson Press Kit