System and method for creating and submitting electronic shopping lists

In an electronic shopping system including a computer device, a computer-implemented method for creating a shopping list for a user, the method comprising:

• accessing a database storing objective descriptions of a plurality of food items, each objective description being represented via a vector including N numerical values quantifying N chemical components found in food, wherein N>0;
• providing to the computer device user selection of a first food item;
• associating the selected first food item with a user's food preference, wherein the associating includes retrieving from the database the vector for the first food item and associating the N numerical values quantifying the N chemical components in the vector of the first food item as N numerical values quantifying a user's preference for the N chemical components;
• selecting a second food item from a plurality of food items based on the selection of the first food item, the selecting including:
• retrieving from the database the vector for the second food item;
• performing an N-dimensional distance computation between the N numerical values quantifying the user's preference for the N chemical components based on the user selection of the first food item, and the N numerical values quantifying the N chemical components in the vector of the second food item, and obtaining a single scalar value in response;
• and
• selecting the second food item based on the distance computation;
• under control of the computer device, presenting to the user the second food item;
• under control of the computer device, displaying one or more ingredients contained in the presented food item;
• creating, under control of the computer device, an order request including the one or more ingredients contained in the presented food item;
• automatically submitting the order request to a retailer over a data communications connection.