  Cooking is a unique endeavor that forms the core of our cultural identity.
Culinary systems across the world have evolved over a period of time in the
backdrop of complex interplay of diverse sociocultural factors including
geographic, climatic and genetic influences. Data-driven investigations can
offer interesting insights into the structural and organizational principles of
cuisines. Herein, we use a comprehensive repertoire of 158544 recipes from 25
geo-cultural regions across the world to investigate the statistical patterns
in the usage of ingredients and their categories. Further, we develop
computational models for the evolution of cuisines. Our analysis reveals
copy-mutation as a plausible mechanism of culinary evolution. As the world
copes with the challenges of diet-linked disorders, knowledge of the key
determinants of culinary evolution can drive the creation of novel recipe
generation algorithms aimed at dietary interventions for better nutrition and
health.
