AI image generators can be used to boost productivity at work or to get your creative juices flowing when coming up with design concepts, but have you ever tried using them to fantasize what the perfect meal would look like?

Asking a group of friends to choose the perfect meal would surely start a heated discussion. You could end a long week by tucking into a juicy hamburger. Or a sophisticated meal in fine dining with great company is just as rewarding.

Needless to say, we will disagree on what constitutes the perfect meal, but we can compromise on what constitutes an aesthetically pleasing dish; for AI to truly become an integral part of our lives, we need to understand what makes us tick.

Since food is such an integral part of our family life and culture, we wanted to know what images an AI would conjure up when we asked it to create the perfect meal.

To find out, we chose five iconic dishes from each of French, Indian, Japanese, Italian, and Mexican cuisines and asked five representative AI image generators to present their modern interpretations.

Tender chunks of beef smothered in a beautiful red wine sauce, this French-style beef stew is a classic French dish from the Burgundy region of France.

Mid Journey seems to have slow-cooked the meat to perfection and added potatoes to complete the hearty dish; the AI image generator also took extra time to decorate the dish.

For this round, Leonardo's new advanced standard-setting model, the Phoenix Model, was used.

Leonardo stuck to a more traditional biryani, but in healthy portions, inviting the palate to sit at the table. The model included several side dishes, including the dhal, which was even more on point in my opinion because of the wonderful composition of the image.

Next, Toronto-based text-to-image generator Ideogram asked me to recreate the grilled chicken.

One could say that its approach favored simplicity and very strict portion control, but nevertheless, Ideogram did not disappoint aesthetically. It seems to be the only image generator that made an effort to add something extra to the dish, unnecessarily adding one skewer. Had more chicken been served with it, I would have gladly forgiven it.

I asked Adobe Firefly for Italian funghi pizza takeout, but also added the potential challenge of asking for a vegan version of the dough dish. In fact, it could be topped with vegan cheese, but I was curious how they would handle this additional information.

Unfortunately, the result was the most cartoonish image, despite the request for an AI image that looked like a normal photo. The pizza itself does not look very appealing either.

Finally, was DALL-E, an AI image generator that works with both ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to create images, able to produce a delicious plate of Tacos Al Pastor? Yes, it did!

What this image lacked in realism, it made up for with a healthy dose of taco filling. For a modern twist, the eggs were sunny-side up and garnished with fresh pepper. Around the plate, everyone's favorite taco toppings are lined up.

Midjourney, Leonardo, and Ideogram produced excellent results, but the overarching lesson is that simply asking an AI image generator to add a modern twist did not produce the intended effect.

Nevertheless, if you are inspired to create your own dish, you can use the prompt to describe it and get a rough idea of how it will look when plated.

We'd love to see your AI dishes, and we'd be happy to share them with you. If you would like to share them, you can do so at [email protected].