COOKNOOK: Intelligent Meal Planning Application

In Canada, nearly 40% of university students experience food insecurity 1, 2. However, most young adults and students are not aware or even underestimate the extent of the insecurity they face. This phenomenon can increase the cognitive burden associated with food management, leading to poor resource allocation exacerbating levels of food insecurity. This negatively impacts Sustainable Development Goal 2, 'Zero Hunger.' The Canadian government and university institutions have often relied on food banks or charitable organizations. However, these interventions have mainly served as emergency measures rather than long-term solutions 3. Through research based on a design-adapted ethnographic approach, our team has gained a deep understanding of the situation of university students and the challenges related to food. Consequently, we propose CookNook: an application featuring an intelligent personal assistant aimed at helping users prioritize cooking time by reducing the cognitive load associated with food. This is accomplished by providing simple and accessible recipes, accompanied by shopping lists tailored to their resources, needs, and constraints. CookNook also facilitates culinary gatherings with friends to share meals while motivating them to cook more. In this article, we summarize our design process and how our solution represents a step towards ensuring sufficiently quality nutrition among university students.