Using a large language model chatbot for cooking strips away a layer of emotional attachment to food, leaving chemistry and physics behind. Sometimes a cook wants that.

In the chat box, I listed all the fresh garden vegetables in the kitchen with a question of what to make with them. Within seconds, the machine responded:

With those vegetables, I’d make a hearty chopped salad with a mix of crisp, sweet, and earthy flavors. Because several of these vegetables are quite firm or assertive when raw, how you cut and prepare them makes a big difference.

I started with cucumber, red onion, yellow zucchini, carrot, kale, small turnip, broccoli, and cauliflower. I replaced red onion with freshly pulled green onions, sliced thinly. Then began peeling, grating and chopping.

The best new information was how to prepare kale. I sliced it thinly, then massaged the leaves in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and some kosher salt. This tenderized the vegetable and gave it a better texture. Hard to believe I hadn’t heard of this. The technique will have more applications than chopped salad, so I learned something useful.

I considered adding fennel, as one bulb was ready for harvest. In its usual confident manner, the chatbot adjusted the recipe to accommodate the new ingredient. I decided against it. Chatbot instantly removed it from the plan.

A lot of details on vegetable preparation were provided:

• Cucumber: Leave the skin on if it’s tender. Slice thinly into half-moons or quarter-moons. If it’s very watery, sprinkle lightly with salt and let it drain for 10 minutes, then pat dry.
• Red onion: Slice paper-thin. To mellow the sharpness, soak the slices in cold water for 10–15 minutes, then drain.
• Yellow zucchini: Slice into thin half-moons or use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons.
• Carrot: Peel into ribbons or shred on a coarse grater. Thin pieces are much nicer than thick coins.
• Kale: Remove the tough stems. Slice the leaves into very fine ribbons. Massage with about a teaspoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt for 1–2 minutes until it softens.
• Turnip: Peel if the skin is thick. Slice very thinly or grate. Small young turnips are sweet and crisp raw.
• Broccoli: Cut into very small florets. Peel the stem and slice it thinly—it is delicious raw.
• Cauliflower: Break into tiny bite-sized florets or shave thinly with a knife.

I added a can of prepared kidney beans, some hemp seeds, and sprouted pumpkin seeds. I added some diced bell pepper and kalamata olives to leftovers.

A simple vinaigrette made with home made apple cider vinegar, chives, garlic, thyme, parsley, and extra virgin olive oil dressed the vegetables. It made the one-dish meal.

I will write the process in my recipe book. However, the live use of artificial intelligence enables the ingredients to be whatever is literally on hand. The cook can change things if something else is found lurking in the back of the refrigerator. No need to go to the grocer or back to the garden.

Whatever is here can be made into part of a meal. With practice a meal could become part of local cuisine. Life is more than chemistry and physics, yet science underpins much of our lives and we should welcome it.