Regional menus

A curated dataset of regional dishes: what they're made of, when they're eaten, how spicy they are and who can eat them. Good for menu builders, recipe apps, travel guides and food quizzes.

All endpoints need an API key and return JSON. Lists come back as { "data": [...], "total": n }, single items as { "data": {...} }.

Endpoints

Endpoint	Returns
`GET /v1/menus/regions`	All regions
`GET /v1/menus/regions/{slug}`	One region with all its dishes
`GET /v1/menus/dishes`	Dishes, filtered and paginated
`GET /v1/menus/dishes/{slug}`	One dish
`GET /v1/menus/random`	Random dishes matching filters

The dish object

{
  "slug": "appam",
  "name": "Appam",
  "local_name": "അപ്പം",
  "description": "Lacy fermented rice pancake with a soft, thick centre.",
  "course": "breakfast",
  "diet": "vegan",
  "spice_level": 0,
  "price_level": 1,
  "ingredients": ["rice", "coconut", "yeast or toddy"],
  "tags": ["fermented"],
  "region": { "slug": "kerala", "name": "Kerala", "country_code": "IN" }
}

Field	Type	Description
`slug`	string	Stable, unique id. Use it in URLs.
`name`	string	Common English name
`local_name`	string \| null	Name in the local script, when it adds something
`description`	string	One sentence
`course`	enum	`breakfast` `starter` `main` `side` `bread` `rice` `snack` `dessert` `beverage`
`diet`	enum	`vegan` `vegetarian` `eggetarian` `pescatarian` `non_vegetarian` (see below)
`spice_level`	0–5	0 is not spicy, 5 is very hot. Typical preparation; homes and restaurants vary
`price_level`	1–3	Relative to the region: 1 everyday/street, 2 restaurant, 3 premium or festive
`ingredients`	string[]	Main ingredients, not a full recipe
`tags`	string[]	Loose descriptors such as `street-food`, `festive`, `fermented`
`region`	object	Where the dish comes from

List regions

GET /v1/menus/regions

https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/regions

Parameter	Type	Description
`country`	string	Two-letter country code, e.g. `IN`, `JP`

{
  "data": [
    {
      "slug": "kerala",
      "name": "Kerala",
      "kind": "state",
      "country_code": "IN",
      "country": "India",
      "summary": "Coconut, curry leaves and coastal seafood, …",
      "staples": ["coconut", "coconut oil", "rice", "curry leaves", "black pepper"],
      "dish_count": 10
    }
  ],
  "total": 11
}

kind is one of country, state, region or city.

Get a region

GET /v1/menus/regions/{slug}

https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/regions/{slug}

Returns the region object above plus a dishes array (dish objects without the region field).

List dishes

GET /v1/menus/dishes

https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/dishes

Parameter	Type	Description
`region`	slug	Only dishes from this region
`country`	string	Two-letter country code
`course`	enum	One of the course values above
`diet`	enum	Dishes suitable for this diet: `vegetarian` also returns vegan dishes, `pescatarian` returns vegan, vegetarian and eggetarian ones too
`max_spice`	0–5	Spice level at most this
`q`	string	Search name, local name, region, ingredients and tags (accents ignored)
`limit`	1–100	Page size, default 20
`cursor`	string	The `next_cursor` from the previous page

Results are sorted by name. Paginate by passing next_cursor back until it's null:

let cursor = null;
const all = [];
do {
  const url = new URL("https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/dishes");
  url.searchParams.set("country", "IN");
  url.searchParams.set("limit", "100");
  if (cursor) url.searchParams.set("cursor", cursor);
  const res = await fetch(url, { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.CHRONON_KEY}` } });
  const page = await res.json();
  all.push(...page.data);
  cursor = page.next_cursor;
} while (cursor);

Get a dish

GET /v1/menus/dishes/{slug}

https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/dishes/{slug}

curl https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/dishes/laal-maas \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHRONON_KEY"

Random dishes

GET /v1/menus/random

https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/random

Takes the same filters as list dishes (except limit and cursor), plus:

Parameter	Type	Description
`count`	1–10	How many dishes, default 1. Never repeats within one response.

curl "https://chronon.webrizen.com/v1/menus/random?diet=vegan&max_spice=2&count=3" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHRONON_KEY"

Returns 404 not_found if nothing matches.

Regions in the dataset

Slug	Region	Country	Dishes
`goa`	Goa	IN	9
`gujarat`	Gujarat	IN	9
`hyderabad`	Hyderabad	IN	9
`karnataka`	Karnataka	IN	9
`kashmir`	Kashmir	IN	9
`kerala`	Kerala	IN	10
`maharashtra`	Maharashtra	IN	9
`punjab`	Punjab	IN	9
`rajasthan`	Rajasthan	IN	9
`tamil-nadu`	Tamil Nadu	IN	9
`west-bengal`	West Bengal	IN	9
`italy`	Italy	IT	9
`japan`	Japan	JP	9
`lebanon`	Lebanon	LB	9
`mexico`	Mexico	MX	10
`thailand`	Thailand	TH	9

The data is curated by hand and lives in the repository. Spotted a mistake, or want your region in? See Contributing.