From Cookbooks to Networks: A Framework for Comparing Multiethnic Ingredient Systems in Transylvania

Cookbooks serve as structured records of both ingredient repertoires and the underlying processing logics that define a culture’s culinary identity. By modeling five Transylvanian ethnic traditions—Hungarian, Romanian, Transylvanian Saxon, Jewish, and Armenian—as weighted, undirected co-occurrence networks, we found that interethnic connectivity is driven primarily by technological processes rather than simple ingredient presence. Using purposive sampling, we compiled a harmonized corpus of 1409 recipes and applied explicit ingredient normalization (retention, aggregation, and deconstruction) and a 14-class functional taxonomy. We computed density, clustering, modularity, and centrality measures and compared cuisines with a binary Jaccard index, both at the category level and within four course types. Category networks reveal an exceptionally tight Hungarian–Romanian–Armenian triangle (J > 0.95), whereas course-level results show that main dishes exhibit the strongest divergence (J < 0.28). These results support a layered identity model of Transylvanian gastronomy: while shared confectionery frameworks in desserts dissolve ethnic boundaries (M < 0.17), main dishes actively guard cultural boundaries through distinct technological signatures.