Just mentioning; I think there is some shady controversy going on around ventoy with the project using unexplainable binary blobs in the source code or sometging.
At least there was a controversy at some point in time. It might be resolved now for all I know. Just be aware of it before you decide to use Ventoy.
I agree that the private assistant thing falls apart if only using a green/yellow, but O don't think that compute should be bolted on to these devices.
I have had an home assistant green for soon a year and it is great for what I need.
If I want the whole AI-thing I wpuld lile that to be run on a separate device that can be reached by the HA-green.
Just create icons for foods as we've done for recyclables.
Milk carton? Paper icon. Detergent bottle? Plastic icon.
Veggie burger? Vegetarian icon. Vegan burger? Vegan icon.
Then you can just skip all this naming politics and call it whatever you like. Just require the appropriate icons on the front of the packaging.
Meat/poultry/fish should be their own icons as well imo.
I don't know if there's any good reason not to do this, but it seems like a good idea to me.