IBM’s Watson Cookbook — This Data Is Delicious!

IBM’s Watson has long been trying to humanize data, to demonstrate how IBM’s amazing number crunching is applicable to the everyday. Watson went on Jeopardy! and vanquished the field, of course, but it wasn’t until its advertising struck on the idea of food did data lighten up and liven up. Taking something simple like food that touches everybody’s lives, and showing its complexity and all the connections hidden in the flavors, gave IBM and Watson the example they were looking for. Oh, people said, I get it–data is delicious!

Now IBM’s Watson has taken this experiment a step further and produced a genuine cookbook. It may not have the tastiest name, but Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson is out this month with more than 65 recipes. And it’s not scary either, because robots don’t cook these dishes–yet. Watson’s co-author on the project is the slightly less high-tech Institute of Culinary Education.