To encourage you to cook, Romain had the idea of creating Coco Cooking, an application that allows you to earn money, in exchange for a photo of your homemade dish. It’s simple and fun, with lots of challenges and recipe ideas to discover and share with the community. We tell you more.
Romain Sion’s idea starts from a phrase that we all repeat all the time : what are we eating this evening/this lunch? And often out of laziness when we get home from class or work, we eat whatever we want. “However, when you ask a dietician about how to eat better, the first answer is to cook less processed products,” explains the Lille resident.
A cooked meal = money earned
But how do you motivate yourself to cook at home? This is where Coco Cooking comes into play. Romain’s application allows you to obtain points (“coconuts”) with each dish you cook that you can then convert into money (or voucher). “A dish is 35 points and to get 35 cents, you need around 200 points.”indicates the creator who only asks for a photo as proof. And to make it even more fun and lucrative, you can also participate in simple challenges or sponsored by brands to earn more points.
So, we don’t necessarily tell you to cook a dish that deserves its place in a gourmet restaurant, eh. It can be a good simple dish like pasta with a little homemade pesto, or if you’re keen, seitan bourguignon simmered for six hours over a low heat (it’s delicious if you’re tired of beef).
Create a food social network
However, be careful, you can only post two photos per day. And your photos are analyzed by an AI (no need to take a photo of the dish from the canteen, it’s toasted), then by 10 people from the community AKA the Homemade Brigade who will say whether or not you respect the game.”There are also some simple criteria to respect“, adds the founder.
And because Romain wants to create a real community (currently 100,000 active users per day), you can also share your recipe card, follow other accounts, like, comment and be inspired by those of others. “The idea is really to create a social network dedicated to food by bringing together brands, distributors, users and food influencers.summarizes Romain, who has just won the Envi Prize for independents for the original initiative.
Coco Cooking’s future projects
Of course, the Lille resident does not intend to stop there. “We are working on a way to offer advice to users to improve their diet. By analyzing their photos, we can see if the person is eating healthily or if the plate should be balanced better. We would provide some basic advice with AI and then why not offer them ‘pocket’ dietitians who would be in contact with them via the app.“
Another project: vary the point gain depending on the complexity of the dish. “Currently, whether you cook a package of pasta with a ready-made tomato sauce or a prepared dish, you earn the same number of pointsindicates Romain. We would like to reward those who push themselves a little harder.“
Come on, it’s time to show off your cooking skills.
