1. A method for operating a system to provide temporal context for recommending items for consumption, comprising: maintaining on a storage medium a record of items consumed within a reference period, together with a time of consumption of each item, and a content descriptor associated with each item; using the record of items to define a first temporal consumption period associated with a first set of one or more similar content descriptors, wherein defining the first temporal consumption period comprises: (a) using the record of items to identify a first consumed item associated with a first content descriptor, (b) using the record of items to determine a first time period during which the first consumed item was consumed, (c) using the record of items to identify a second consumed item associated with the first content descriptor, (d) using the record to determine a second time period during which the second consumed item was consumed, said second time period not overlapping with said first time period, and (e) defining the first temporal consumption period such that the first temporal consumption period encompasses both the first time period during which the first consumed item associated with the first content descriptor was consumed and the second time period during which the second consumed item associated with the first content descriptor, was consumed; using the record of items to define a second temporal consumption period associated with a second set of one or more similar content descriptors, wherein defining the second temporal consumption period comprises: (a) using the record of items to identify a third consumed item associated with a third content descriptor, (b) using the record of items to determine a third time period during which the third consumed item was consumed, (c) using the record of items to identify a fourth consumed item associated with a fourth content descriptor, (d) using the record to determine a fourth time period during which the fourth consumed item was consumed, said fourth time period not overlapping with said third time period, (e) determining whether the fourth content descriptor matches the third content descriptor within a threshold similarity, and (e) in response to determining that the fourth content descriptor matches the third content descriptor within a threshold similarity, defining the second temporal consumption period such that the second temporal consumption period encompasses both the third time period and the fourth time period; creating an aggregated list of temporal consumption periods recorded over a plurality of reference periods; identifying clusters of similar temporal consumption periods in the aggregated list; identifying recurring temporal patterns; constructing a profile based on the clusters and the recurring temporal patterns for each cluster; and using the profile to provide a temporal context.