INFERRING RECIPE DIFFICULTY

Embodiments infer a difficulty attribute of a recipe. A recipe is obtained that includes recipe content such as preparation steps and ingredients. A recipe server identifies attribute features in the recipe content, where the attribute features are representative of portions of the recipe content that are correlated with difficulty attributes. The recipe server determines whether the recipe is associated with a difficulty attribute based on the attribute features and obtained attribute parameters corresponding to the attribute features. A difficulty attribute determined to be associated with a recipe is transmitted to a client device in response to a request for the recipe. The estimated difficulty attribute is used to filter recipes sent in response to a request for recipes, where the request specifies a criterion based on the difficulty attribute. The estimated difficulty attribute is used to select recipes for recommendation to a user based on that user's preferences.