Tom Blomfield, best known as the cofounder of UK digital bank Monzo and now a Y Combinator group partner, Has launched a quirky new side project: Recipe Ninja, an AI-powered recipe app built using “vibe coding.” But just hours after launch, it spiraled into chaos.
Recipe Ninja was supposed to be a playful showcase of how far generative AI tools have come. Instead, it quickly became a hub for bizarre, offensive, and outright disturbing recipe submissions. With users posting concoctions like “Snot Pasta,” “Cyanide Ice Cream,” and “Dirty Drug Needles Sandwich.”
After leaving Monzo in 2021, Blomfield turned his attention to mental health advocacy and angel investing. His latest project, however, marks a return to building. This time blending AI coding tools with his long-standing curiosity for cooking apps. Built over a few weeks using tools like Windsurf, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini. Recipe Ninja uses voice-controlled AI to walk users through step-by-step cooking instructions, hands-free.
Sharing the project on Hacker News, Blomfield described his process as “vibe coding”. Letting large language models generate code instead of writing it line by line. “It’s the recipe app I always wanted,” he wrote, excitedly unveiling features like voice guidance and recipe import tools.
Blomfield even shared some of his personal favorites: “Christmas Turkey with all the Trimmings,” “Michelin Star Pork Loin,” and a classic “Italian Lasagne.” But the wholesome vibe didn’t last long.
In no time, users began submitting outlandish and offensive content under fake recipe titles. Items like “Deep Fried Baby Doll,” “Thick White Cum Soup,” and “Primordial Soup” flooded the app, turning what was meant to be a fun AI experiment into a moderation nightmare.
Hacker News users had mixed reactions — some called it hilarious, others suggested immediate fixes. One user proposed, “Maybe add an AI review step to block that stuff… Let them do the whole recipe, then just block it.”
Harry Law, an AI policy expert at Cambridge University, weighed in too. “This highlights how unpredictable generative tech still is,” he said. “Vibe coding is powerful, but brittle. If you don’t build with governance in mind, someone else will expose the flaws for you.”
Law added that “policy and product people aren’t just humourless gatekeepers — they might be your best chance at keeping your app from accidentally explaining how to make explosives.”
For Blomfield, this isn’t his first brush with the wild ride of consumer tech. At Monzo, he oversaw one of the UK’s fastest-growing fintech startups before stepping down during a difficult phase of restructuring and valuation cuts. He later opened up about the emotional toll it took on him, revealing how burnout forced him to rethink his priorities.
Now based in San Francisco and working with early-stage founders at Y Combinator, Blomfield built Recipe Ninja to test how far no-code and low-code AI tools could go. “Honestly, I was pretty astonished by the progress in capabilities over the last few months,” he told Sifted.
Despite the chaos, Blomfield seemed to take it in stride. “It’s nice to see it getting so much attention,” he said, admitting he hadn’t implemented any moderation at launch. “But I will do that now. Entirely with AI. Shall we see how long it takes? My guess is about 30 minutes.”
Shortly after, he confirmed basic moderation had been added to Recipe Ninja, though the app’s early antics have already secured its place in internet infamy.
