Inspiration

Growing up, food was never been a problem for my family. At home, the well-stocked refrigerator and pantry made food seem to have an unlimited supply. Going grocery shopping meant our family picked out only the freshest-looking produce and meat, giving little thought to where it came from.

Going into high school, I joined various volunteering organizations, always eager to help out my community any way I could. I began volunteering at a local food bank, combining my love for cooking my desire to make a difference. Every week, I prepared dozens of meals for families in need. The gratitude that these families showed made the experience all the more rewarding, as I got to know another side of the community around me. As I heard their stories, I discovered my own internalized beliefs about food as a commodity, whereby many of these families struggled with just putting food on the table. I realized that some of these patrons had gone to my school.

One day, I experienced this reality in an unexpected way. I had forgotten my lunch, and a classmate—someone I recognized from the food bank—shared their meal with me. What was never a cause for concern from me meant the entire world to these families, and despite her own challenges, she was willing to show kindness. These experiences taught me the true meaning of compassion and community, and I knew I needed to do more to help those in need.

What it does

Leftovers Love helps minimize food waste by finding recipes for leftovers with the following features:

• Processes user's leftover ingredients
• Displays compatible recipes
• Personalized AI to generate recipes for unique combinations
• Helps with finding local food banks to donate to

How we built it

• Backend
  • Next.js Server
  • Prisma ORM for database queries using PostgreSQL backend
  • Spoonacular API for recipe fetching
  • Huggingface API for AI generation
• Frontend
  • Tailwind CSS Framework
  • Plotly for interactive mapping
  • ShadCN UI Frameword

Challenges

Integrating multiple APIs and ensuring seamless data flow between them. Handling edge cases where ingredient combinations were unusual or not found in the database. Ensuring the AI-generated recipes were coherent and useful. Handling authentication of users.

Accomplishments

Successfully integrated AI to generate unique recipes based on user input. Developed a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to input ingredients and find recipes. Implemented a feature to locate nearby food banks, promoting community support and reducing food waste.

What we learned

The importance of user experience in application design. Effective ways to integrate and manage multiple APIs. The potential of AI in creating personalized and useful content. The insane amount of food that goes to waste

What's next for Leftovers Love

Expand Recipe Database: Integrate more APIs and databases to provide a wider variety of recipes. Enhanced AI Capabilities: Improve the AI to generate even more accurate and creative recipes. Mobile Application: Develop a mobile app to make Leftovers Love accessible on the go. Community Features: Add features that allow users to share recipes and tips with each other. Sustainability Tips: Provide users with tips on how to store and use leftovers more effectively.

Tracks

(LAKOG) lowkey actually kinda good - We wanted to make a good website WBUOT would blow up on tiktok - This may blow up on tiktok, but not in a brainrot sort of way nosu post - we used nosu with the idea (TPIA) this project is awesome - We hope you enjoy this project!

Built With

• huggingface
• next
• next-auth
• plotly
• postgresql
• prisma
• react
• tailwindcss
• typescript