Betty Cipher’s “Step-by-Step” Algorecipe Generator is an experiment in industrial cooking anarchy powered by packaging data from the bin and human bodies. The work is created using disused food packaging and donated human footsteps from Exeter eateries such as Sid’s Cafe, The Glorious, The Plant Cafe and Caramello Gelato. The algorithm is programmed to use up 45,255 footsteps, donated by staff and customers via pedometers, to write a 45,255 step recipe book.

The Algorecipe Generator scavenges information such as ingredients and cooking suggestions from the discarded packaging. It combines them at random to create recipe steps, each time consuming one of the donated human footsteps. As the recipe progresses, ingredients are combined and recombined until only one finished ingredient remains. At this point, the recipe is printed and the generator continues onto the next recipe. Once it runs out of donated footsteps the generator will stop and the recipe book will be complete.

This project was co-created with Alexandra Jönsson as part of Autonomous Tech Fetish’s investigations into data and bodies, and formed an integral part of ‘Data Buffet’ which was created for the Mueseum of Contemporary Commodities.