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A New Theory of Food Classification

Here propose an all-encompassing taxonomy of foods. I will work through each part of the taxonomy and provide examples for many apparent edge cases.

Food Classification Pipeline
Figure 1: Taxonomy of food.

A note on formalisms. Capitalized terms are final categories. Lowercase terms are super-categories and may also be used in specific food terms.

Just Food

The first important point to establish is that the proposed taxonomy of food only encompasses edible things, to which I assign a [+edible] feature. So, in the following tweet, items in the “preparation rebel” row would not be classifiable in this taxonomy.

Similarly, a sandwich composed of two pieces of bread with Earth in the middle (Fig. 2), would not be considered under this taxonomy because not all ingredients are edible.

Figure 2: 'Earth sandwich' made by two men 20,000km apart ([BBC Article](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51171834)).

meat vs. salad

Another core distinction to make is the difference between meat and salad. meats are foods that are composed of a single atomic substance. This category can be further subdivided into Meat and Bread based on the number of ingredients (see below). meat as a category encompasses any food substance that cannot be further broken down or separated. This includes:

  • steak, carrot, tofu, milk
  • smoothies, bisques, ice cream

Meat vs. Bread

  • steak with butter

Everything is salad