Mangia!'s Dictionary of ingredients includes information about Categories. For example, Mangia!  knows that the Category "pasta" includes "spaghetti," "fettucine," etc. The advantage of this is that whenever you have to specify an ingredient, you don't have to be too specific. If you feel like eating pasta, you needn't look for recipes including spaghetti, then for those using fettucine; you just ask for "pasta" and Mangia!  does the right thing.

The same thing applies to the Nationality and Course of recipes. A search for "Italian" recipes will yield both "Sicilian" and "Tuscan," in addition to those which are simply classified "Italian." However, you needn’t worry about Mangia!  giving you more than you asked for—it uses only the level of detail you provide. That is, if you specify a desire for "pudding" dishes, you'll only get recipes in that exact category, whereas asking for “dessert” recipes will get you not only puddings, but cakes, cookies, etc.