“Serving Each User”: Supporting Different Eating Goals Through a Multi-List Recommender Interface

Abstract

Food recommender systems optimize towards a user’s current preferences. However, appetites may vary, in the sense that users might seek healthy recipes today and look for unhealthy meals tomorrow. In this paper, we propose a novel approach in the food domain to diversify recommendations across different lists to ‘serve’ different users goals, compiled in a multi-list food recommender interface. We evaluated our interface in a 2 (single list vs multiple lists) x 2 (without or with explanations) between-subject user study (N = 366), linking choice behavior and evaluation aspects through the user experience framework. Our multi-list interface was evaluated more favorably than a single-list interface, in terms of diversity and choice satisfaction. Moreover, it triggered changes in food choices, even though these choices were less healthy than those made in the single-list interface.