Vegitude GR 1
Problem Statement
Vegans and vegetarians , vegetarians, lactose-intolerant individuals, and gluten-sensitive individuals, and other people with dietary restrictions have trouble finding recipes that fit their dietary restrictionsneeds. Most recipes don’t consider providing vegan and , vegetarian, etc., alternatives. It is complicated to keep track of appropriate substitutions for meat and dairy products. Additionally, it is difficult for non-vegans/non-vegetarians to people who have friends with dietary restrictions to cook a meal for their vegan or vegetarian friends since people without dietary restrictions can be inexperienced in altering recipes to fit different dietary needs.
User Classes
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People with Dietary Restrictions, new to cooking for themselves
Looking to cook for themselves. Could be novice or experienced. Might want recipes specifically designed for vegetarians and vegans, or might want alterations of classic recipes that swap out meat and dairy product for vegetarian/vegan equivalents.
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. Needs significant guidance about substitutions.
People with Dietary Restrictions, experienced at cooking for themselves
Looking to research new substitutions or look at multiple versions of a recipe to create a new version for themselves. Know common substitutions, but might want to learn about less common ones.
People cooking for their friends who have dietary restrictions
Cooking for other people. Likely inexperienced since they are not vegan/vegetarian. Don’t have good knowledge of appropriate with substitutions or how to evaluate and pick vegan/vegetarian/etc recipes. May only have partial knowledge of the food preferences of the person they’re cooking for. None of us are vegetarians so this is cool. Sometimes we do cook for vegetarians, but the user class that we are a part of is small.
Needs/Goals
We interviewed a vegan who is experienced at cooking vegan food, a vegetarian who is a relatively novice cook, and a person who often cooks for a vegan friend.
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The person who often cooks for a vegan friend stated that she figures out what to cook by asking her friends or looking things recipes on the internet, using Google. She will also often just take a recipe she knows and replace certain problematic ingredients with vegan substitutes. When trying to find vegan substitutes, she usually uses the internet or asks her vegan friend what to use and, if brand specific, where to buy it. She finds it occasionally difficult to find variety in things to cook and to figure out exactly what vegan substitutes she should use. She also said that a way to find recipes, vegan or not, by inputing inputting the ingredients she had would be pretty nice to have.