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Is there a comparison to MyFitnessPal? I use that and it's able to import recipes from a link, or scan products using a barcode. How are you getting all of the

Is there a comparison to MyFitnessPal? I use that and it's able to import recipes from a link, or scan products using a barcode. How are you getting all of the data for different products? I tried looking up my two favorite brands of yogurt and they weren't there.

phugoid 11y ago
Thanks for checking it out. In my understanding, MyFitnessPal is oriented toward the fitness crowd, with a focus on daily energy consumption. After a lot of exploration I decided to limit the scope as much as possible and target home cooks and food bloggers, with a focus on recipes. I spent a few weeks of my spare time trying to get the parsing of free-text recipes to work (essentially MFP's import from link). The results were decent, but I realized that if it's only 90% accurate I still need a lot of user interface functions (like MFP) to let users edit/fix the inaccurate bits. It started smelling bad so I decided to strip it down to its most basic function. I have no plans for now to use databases of branded products - the ones I saw were quite expensive and would be more useful for sites like MyFitnessPal, perhaps less useful for recipes/cooking.
- nodamage 11y ago
  > I spent a few weeks of my spare time trying to get the parsing of free-text recipes to work (essentially MFP's import from link). The results were decent, but I realized that if it's only 90% accurate I still need a lot of user interface functions (like MFP) to let users edit/fix the inaccurate bits. It started smelling bad so I decided to strip it down to its most basic function. As a regular MyFitnessPal user I have to say, their recipe importer leaves a lot to be desired. Whenever I use it, I inevitably have to make corrections because it mapped the parsed ingredient to the wrong item. (And their UI for making corrections is not particularly great either.) It's probably a good idea that you decided not to go down this road.

phugoid 11y ago

Thanks for checking it out. In my understanding, MyFitnessPal is oriented toward the fitness crowd, with a focus on daily energy consumption. After a lot of exploration I decided to limit the scope as much as possible and target home cooks and food bloggers, with a focus on recipes. I spent a few weeks of my spare time trying to get the parsing of free-text recipes to work (essentially MFP's import from link). The results were decent, but I realized that if it's only 90% accurate I still need a lot of user interface functions (like MFP) to let users edit/fix the inaccurate bits. It started smelling bad so I decided to strip it down to its most basic function. I have no plans for now to use databases of branded products - the ones I saw were quite expensive and would be more useful for sites like MyFitnessPal, perhaps less useful for recipes/cooking.

nodamage 11y ago
> I spent a few weeks of my spare time trying to get the parsing of free-text recipes to work (essentially MFP's import from link). The results were decent, but I realized that if it's only 90% accurate I still need a lot of user interface functions (like MFP) to let users edit/fix the inaccurate bits. It started smelling bad so I decided to strip it down to its most basic function. As a regular MyFitnessPal user I have to say, their recipe importer leaves a lot to be desired. Whenever I use it, I inevitably have to make corrections because it mapped the parsed ingredient to the wrong item. (And their UI for making corrections is not particularly great either.) It's probably a good idea that you decided not to go down this road.