Food and retail technology: Heinz launches artificial intelligence cookbook in partnership with VML Spain

In partnership with VML Spain, Heinz is aiming to bridge the gap between food and technology by launching what is pitched as the first recipe book that teaches AI (and humans too) how to cook like a pro.

Caio Fontenele, Heinz New Ventures Director, says: “With over 50% of the general population admitting to using AI in their day to day lives, including for recipe inspiration and cooking instructions, we decided to put AI to the test. A culinary test.”

“And, despite AI being able to speak all languages, write speeches, launch satellites into space, we noticed that actually, when it comes to cooking, even AI needed some help.”

“Following this insight, our chefs partnered with AI experts to teach AI how to create the perfect recipes using only Heinz tomatoes.”

“Our AI Cookbook is a collection of curated prompts that when given to AI, create delicious food images and recipes that can be followed at home.”

“The secret ingredient to these perfect prompts? Heinz tomatoes. The cookbook is our latest milestone in making our most loved ingredient open to everyone – humans, and AI too”.

Paco Badia, Executive Creative Director at VML Spain, adds: “We continually look for ways to showcase the superiority of Heinz tomatoes, the best tomatoes in the world, as the base of any recipe.”

“And the inability of AI to correctly portray a food image has allowed us to explain it in an original way, from a world seemingly so far away, but very connected to the brand's philosophy of making its main ingredient open to any cook”. 

Heinz chefs, an AI designer and prompt experts came together to develop the ideal prompts AI needed to create over 30 recipes, using Heinz tomatoes.

The project follows the launch of a Heinz Culinary Tomatoes campaign last September, Heinz Tomato Open Sauce, where the brand tapped the open source tech philosophy.

The e-version of the cookbook will be available to download for free here, while physical copies will be delivered to a handful of influencers in the UK. The campaign will exist as a PR activation and social media campaign.