Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

The Hunt for Dark Breakfast

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. The “Dark Breakfast Abyss” as a geometric idea
The discussion is built around a simplex that maps egg‑, milk‑, and flour‑based recipes onto a triangle. Users joke that the empty corner of that triangle is a forbidden “dark breakfast” region.

“The concept of a ‘Dark Breakfast Abyss’ in the Breakfast Simplex is hilarious” – ai‑christianson
“The Breakfast Simplex is a space of recipes parameterized by {egg, milk, flour} ratios, normalized onto a simplex.” – DonHopkins

2. Debating what belongs in the triangle (and what doesn’t)
Many commenters argue that the original chart is too narrow, insisting that foods like French toast, bacon, potatoes, or even whole‑meal breads should be added as extra dimensions.

“I feel like there's a lot of unexplored area in the carb‑soaked‑in‑egg category that French Toast fits into.” – noduerme
“I feel like excluding French toast is a serious faux pas here!” – pbnjay

3. Technical analogies and the “vector‑space” framing
The conversation frequently references barycentric coordinates, simplicial complexes, and even embedded constraint graphics to justify the breakfast model, drawing parallels to 3D modeling and language‑model embeddings.

“Simplicial complexes are useful UI primitives.” – DonHopkins
“The same formulation applies to interpolating vector drawings, mesh blending, facial animation, pose spaces, and other example‑based interfaces where states are meaningful and compatibility matters.” – DonHopkins

4. Cultural breadth and critique of U.S. bias
Users bring in international dishes (egg‑paratha, Sri Lankan hoppers, Malaysian roti telur) and point out that the original chart is heavily U.S.‑centric, missing many global breakfast staples.

“In Malaysia, a common breakfast is roti telur + teh tarik which is close to the dark breakfast region.” – muzani
“Egg paratha is a common Indian dish.” – jnaina
“What it's missing is fish, fruit, preserved meats… It's very culturally biased to typical North American breakfast choices.” – bregma


🚀 Project Ideas

Breakfast Simplex Explorer

Summary

  • Interactive web app that visualizes the {egg, milk, flour} simplex and lets users drag a point to explore ingredient ratios.
  • Provides real‑time recipe suggestions, nutritional info, and cooking tips for the selected region.
  • Solves the frustration of “I want to see where my recipe lies” and “I need a tool to drag ingredients”.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Home cooks, food bloggers, culinary students
Core Feature Drag‑and‑drop barycentric coordinates on a 2‑D simplex with instant recipe generation
Tech Stack React + D3.js, Node.js backend, PostgreSQL, Docker
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue‑ready: freemium with premium recipe packs

Notes

  • HN commenters say “I want to see where my recipe lies” and “I need a tool to drag ingredients”.
  • Encourages experimentation in the “dark breakfast abyss” and sparks discussion on unexplored breakfast combos.

AI Breakfast Recipe Generator

Summary

  • GPT‑4 powered service that accepts constraints (ratio, dietary restrictions, flavor profile) and outputs novel breakfast recipes.
  • Addresses the lack of recipes for under‑explored ratios and the need for “new breakfast ideas”.
  • Includes community voting and tagging for quality control.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Recipe creators, food enthusiasts, dietitians
Core Feature Constraint‑based recipe generation with step‑by‑step instructions
Tech Stack OpenAI API, FastAPI, React, PostgreSQL, Redis
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue‑ready: subscription + API tier

Notes

  • Users complained “I want a recipe that fits 3 eggs, 2 cups milk, 1 cup flour” – this tool fills that gap.
  • Enables rapid prototyping of “womelette” or “dark breakfast” dishes, fueling community discussion.

Breakfast Menu Builder for Restaurants

Summary

  • SaaS platform that helps restaurants design diverse breakfast menus by mapping dishes onto the breakfast simplex.
  • Provides analytics on coverage, customer preferences, and compliance with dietary trends.
  • Solves the frustration of “restaurants offer almost identical menus” and “lack of variety”.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Restaurant owners, menu planners, culinary consultants
Core Feature Menu design wizard with simplex coverage heatmap and recipe library
Tech Stack Django, React, PostgreSQL, AWS Lambda
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue‑ready: tiered subscription ($99–$499/month)

Notes

  • HN users noted “almost all US breakfast menus are interchangeable”; this tool gives data‑driven ways to differentiate.
  • Provides a discussion forum for chefs to share successful menu experiments.

Breakfast Ingredient Substitution & Adaptation Tool

Summary

  • Web service that suggests ingredient substitutions (e.g., dairy‑free, gluten‑free) and automatically adapts recipes.
  • Addresses the pain point of “I need a recipe that works with my dietary restrictions” and “I want to experiment with non‑traditional ingredients”.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Home cooks, dietitians, food bloggers
Core Feature Substitution engine with step‑by‑step adaptation and nutritional recalculation
Tech Stack Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Vue.js
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby (open source) with optional paid premium data set

Notes

  • Commenters mention “I want to adapt recipes for dietary restrictions” and “I need a tool to see how substitutions affect ratios”.
  • Encourages experimentation and can spark community discussions on new breakfast variations.

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