What's Not on the Plate? Rethinking Food Computing through Indigenous Indian Datasets
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper presents a multimodal dataset of 1,000 indigenous recipes from remote regions of India, collected through a participatory model involving first-time digital workers from rural areas. The project covers ten endangered language communities in six states. Documented using a dedicated mobile app, the data set includes text, images, and audio, capturing traditional food practices along with their ecological and cultural contexts. This initiative addresses gaps in food computing, such as the lack of culturally inclusive, multimodal, and community-authored data. By documenting food as it is practiced rather than prescribed, this work advances inclusive, ethical, and scalable approaches to AI-driven food systems and opens new directions in cultural AI, public health, and sustainable agriculture.
Authors: Pamir Gogoi, Neha Joshi, Ayushi Pandey, Vivek Seshadri, Deepthi Sudharsan, Kalika Bali, Saransh Kumar Gupta, Lipika Dey, Partha Pratim Das
Institutions: Microsoft Research (India), Ashoka University
Language: English
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7091576148