Sometimes, even when I’m really hungry (or maybe especially when I’m really hungry), I have a hard time figuring out what I want to eat. Also, since I cook a lot, there are times when recipes all start to look the same. When I saw cookthink, a tool that tries to match recipes to your cravings, mentioned over at Lifehacker I thought it looked like a good addition to my menu-planning toolkit.

Though the site has lots of features, like a food-related reference section with good definitions and explanations of tools, techniques, and ingredients, the most unique feature is a search by “craving”. Just type in up to eight cravings (be they ingredients, types of cuisine, types of dish, or “moods”) and then “cookthink it” to see a recipe suggestion based on your choices. It’s fun to see the suggested recipe that pops up, and if it’s not what you’re looking for there’s an option to see more. Also, recipes are accompanied by related tips and other recipes which will help me put together an entire meal based on my recent obsession with broccoli raab.

I did find the interface a little confusing at first; the tag cloud that pops up isn’t really related to the words you enter in any way (though it seems to give you words from the same category, i.e. “ingredients”.) The craving identification system doesn’t always know quite what you mean–when I entered “peanut sauce,” “pesto sauce” popped up on the list, and caramel somehow morphed into corn meal (no!)–but cravings are a fairly inexact science, and cookthink is still in beta. I expect that peanut sauce and caramel will both be on the list soon. Overall, the recipes suggested seemed like things I would enjoy cooking and eating, so I think I’ll be back. I may even sign up for a (free) account to explore some of the personalization options further.