Beverage or foodstuff preparation system

A system comprising:

• a container for containing precursor material, the container comprising a machine readable code, and;
• a machine for preparing a beverage or a foodstuff by processing said precursor material, the machine comprising:
• a code reading system to read said code;
• a processing unit for processing the material of the container to the beverage or foodstuff;
• electronic memory storing a plurality of recipes, and;
• electrical circuitry to control the processing unit to execute a preparation process, in which the container is processed,
• the electrical circuitry configured to execute a first type of preparation process in a first mode wherein a recipe identifier of the code is associated with a recipe of said plurality of recipes, and the processing unit is controlled based on said recipe, and
• the electrical circuitry configured to execute an alternative second type of preparation process in a second mode, wherein a value of at least one parameter of a recipe is encoded directly on the container, and the processing unit is controlled based on the said value.