UCLA Dining Hall Menus Dataset

Structured menu data downloaded from the UCLA dining hall website from July 25, 2016 to April 10, 2017.

This repo will be updated as I collect more data.

Projects

If you have used this data to create something awesome and would like to include your project repo or link, please update the PROJECTS.md file and send a pull request. Please follow the format that has been used.

Dataset Structure

The dataset is included within the data subdirectory and is separated into versions v1 and v2 (more details below).

Readability

The data is in a compact JSON form so it would be a good idea to run it through a JSON beautifier for readability. In fact Python comes with a built-in tool that accomplishes this.

$ python -m json.tool <JSON-FILE>

Versions & Structure

The two versions have different structures, which is derived from the UCLA dining hall website. Details of each version can be found below.

Top level

Dictionary of 3 elements looking similar to the following:

{
  "b": [],  // breakfast
  "l": [],  // lunch
  "d": []   // dinner
}

where each element is an array containing data for each meal.

meal Array, restaurant Dictionary

In the meal arrays, there are a list of restaurant dictionaries that contain two elements shown below:

{
  "r": "...",  // restaurant name
  "rk": []     // restaurant kitchens
}

in which each restaurant contains a restaurant kitchen array that contains a list of kitchen dictionaries.

kitchen Dictionary

A kitchen dictionary has the structure similar to the following:

{
  "k": "...",  // kitchen name
  "i": []      // kitchen items
}

in which each kitchen contains a kitchen items array that contains a list of item dictionaries.

item Dictionary

Each item has the following structure:

{
  "e": "...", // entree name
  "t": "...", // entree type
  "n": []     // nutrition information
}

Nutrition information and type information will be further explained in the sections below.

Nutrition Information

The nutrition information array has the following structure, with the array index (0-based index) and type of nutrition information in the comments.

[
  "0",   // 0, total calories
  "0",   // 1, calories from fat

  "0%",  // 2,  vitamin A
  "0%",  // 3,  vitamin C
  "0%",  // 4,  calcium
  "0%",  // 5,  iron

  "0g",  // 6,  total fat
  "0%",  // 7,  total fat percentage
  "0g",  // 8,  saturated fat
  "0%",  // 9,  saturated fat percentage
  "0g",  // 10, trans fat

  "0mg", // 11, cholesterol
  "0%",  // 12, cholesterol percentage
  "0mg", // 13, sodium
  "0%",  // 14, sodium percentage

  "0g",  // 15, total carbohydrate
  "0%",  // 16, total carbohydrate percentage
  "0g",  // 17, dietary fiber
  "0%",  // 18, dietary fiber percentage
  "0g",  // 19, sugars

  "0g"   // 20, protein
]

type Information

Key Difference Between v1 and v2: v2 contains more information (not just vegetarian or vegan) on what the entree contains (dairy, soy, seafood, etc.)

Details on each version can be found below.

Version v1

type information is a single character string which shows that the entree is one of the following types:

Key String	Type Information
o	Ordinary
v	Vegetarian
g	Vegan

Version v2

type information is a string that is a combination of the following characters:

Key Character	Information
v	Vegetarian
g	Vegan
p	Contains Peanuts
t	Contains Tree Nuts
w	Contains Wheat
s	Contains Soy
d	Contains Diary
e	Contains Eggs
l	Contains Shellfish
f	Contains Fish
c	Low-Carbon Footprint

Examples

1. The type string vde indicates that this entree is vegetarian and contains diary & eggs.
2. The type string tc indicates that this entree is ordinary, contains tree nuts and is low-carbon footprint.

License

MIT license, see file LICENSE.