How has the internet changed cooking and eating?

[C. sapidus]

Anthony: OK, I must have misinterpreted your intent.

Basically my post was meant almost like an advertisement, to recapture all that I find great about egullet.

Bravo on your enthusiasm. I did glance at the pastry demos, and they are quite impressive. It is great to know that such a resource exists if I ever want to bake anything more elaborate than pistachio shortbread

I am not so sure how you can be completely opposite of scubadoo.

Ah, that part is easy. I prefer to learn the ins and outs of a particular cuisine by concentrating on one or two “good” cookbooks. I usually follow a recipe closely at least once to get a feel for the particulars of the cuisine and to gauge the author’s tastes against mine. With experience, my method resembles scubadoo’s more closely. Two different roads may lead to the same destination.

Maybe you just love books so much, its hard for you to accept you love the net too?

←

Books are like a beloved spouse: the relationship grows deeper and stronger over time; and you can go to sleep with your books every night. The net is more like a mistress (or so I hear, anyway ): stimulating, unpredictable, and with the risk of catching a virus Unlike affairs of the heart, affairs of the kitchen allow one to enjoy eGullet without forsaking cookbooks

[dividend]

My cookbook collection has grown, not in huge quantity, but in quality. The biggest thing has been the international nature of (this and other) web communities. I live in Kansas City, and I'm continuously suprised when I go looking for cookbooks like Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf, or Christine Ferber's Mes Confitures, and discover that no libaries or bookstores in my area have copies. It's kind of cool because it makes me feel like I know a secret.

The other thing that I love has already been touched on - the sheer volume of discussion available surrounding recipes and cooking techniques. I get drawn in to threads about things I would probably have just skipped over if I saw them in a magazine or a cookbook. And thanks to that interaction, I'm baking sourdough bread on a regular basis, cooking better dried beans than anyone I know, and am completely addicted to roasted cauliflower.

It's been wonderful has been transitioning all of my favorite recipes to internet storage. I love knowing I can access them pretty much wherever I am.

[kristin_71]

As someone who is new to egullet, as a poster I thought I would throw my thoughts into this. The internet has made buying cooking related things, and I mean good cooking related items, good knives, cookbooks, purveyors etc. much more accessible to those of us who are not in the culinary world, or who are maybe contemplating it. There are things like Off the Broiler to intiate the unintiated and make the public much more aware of what is out there in terms of artisinal things, cooking technique and recipes.

I am saving to buy the French Laundry Cookbook, because that is the absolute one cookbook I really need to have. In the meantime I just go sit in Barnes and Noble and thumb through it and try not to drool. I agree though, buying good cookbooks is like buying art. The French Laundry Cookbook is a good example of that.

[H. du Bois]

I think about food more, now (in the abstract, not just the concrete).

[annachan]

I  am  saving  to buy the French Laundry Cookbook, because that is the absolute one cookbook I really need to have. In the meantime I just go sit in Barnes and Noble and thumb through it and try not to drool. I agree though, buying good cookbooks is like buying art. The French Laundry Cookbook is a good example of that.

←

I got mine at Costco at a discount. Not sure if it's still available there, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

[MargyB]

So how do most of you organize and save your recipes online? I had been emailing them all to myself, with the name of the recipe in the subject line and saving them to a folder on my PC. Unfortunately two days ago, my hard drive died and I've lost it all. I won't even go into all of the other files I lost...sigh. Yes of course it all should have been backed up and some of it was, but not the recipes.

Since I'll now be starting from scratch.....how shall I save my recipes?

Thanks....

Margy

[srhcb]

I hate to admit it, but I print them up and save them in the cupboard above my range hood.

It's pretty low tech, and not very well organized, but I've never lost them in a crash.

[Marlene]

So how do most of you organize and save your recipes online? I had been emailing them all to myself, with the name of the recipe in the subject line and saving them to a folder on my PC. Unfortunately two days ago, my hard drive died and I've lost it all. I won't even go into all of the other files I lost...sigh. Yes of course it all should have been backed up and some of it was, but not the recipes.

Since I'll now be starting from scratch.....how shall I save my recipes?

Thanks....

Margy

←

Any online recipes I have I save to my gmail account and label them accordingly "beef, apps, desserts" etc. Gmail's labeling is similar to folders. If my hard drive crashes, I can still sign onto my gmail account from any other computer and retrieve my recipes.

[Gifted Gourmet]

What doesn't the internet have to offer in the way of cooking?

Yes, recipes, of course ..... so many sites which allow one to input on hand ingredients and which will come up with a workable recipe to fit those ingredients to produce a dish.

The shopping for cooking supples is amazing! I have bought pots, pans, serving pieces, my Santoku, and a ton of great things which piqued my interest. Yes, even to ordering items which I might never find in my local stores .. or was not able to locate: a special smoked paprika from Spain, a wine, my new bottle of Minus8 vinegar, ice wines, and so many more things.

Ideas, and more and more ideas .. travel which is food centered is now at hand with the click of the mouse ...

And when I plan a trip or plan to visit a restaurant and want to view their menu in advance, the internet offers that as well ...online menu thread

Food photography: found two excellent cameras online and have learned to photograph food I prepare ...

[helenjp]

Living in a non-western country, the Internet has stopped my English and the "non-Japanese" side of my culture from fossilizing. Not only can I read what you all think about a cookbook written in English before I order it (it's really hopeless trying to order an unseen cookbook online), I can find nerd-level obsessive discussions on pickling cabbage in one place, and Indian housewives's resources on Sify.com, etc. I can help expat Japanese living in NZ where to find Japanese herb seeds in NZ.

Although it hasn't happened so much in food, I've made new friends in my native NZ over the internet, which means that when I go back to NZ and get together with my friends, I'm not time-traveling back to high school, I'm meeting with a much more diverese group of people.

Internet recipes - it's easier to google something than to sift through the avalanche in my recipe cupboard. The big recipe collections seem to offer mostly the same undistinguished recipes, though epicurious is interesting. However, I've hauled my share of treasures back from the great google fridge, from simple things like Andy's Mom's Snickerdoodles (very exotic-sounding for kiwis!) to new versions of my favorite middle-eastern vinegar/brine open jar pickles.

[kristin_71]

I  am  saving  to buy the French Laundry Cookbook, because that is the absolute one cookbook I really need to have. In the meantime I just go sit in Barnes and Noble and thumb through it and try not to drool. I agree though, buying good cookbooks is like buying art. The French Laundry Cookbook is a good example of that.

←

I got mine at Costco at a discount. Not sure if it's still available there, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

←

Costco hasn't opened here yet, sadly and it will be awhile before it does. So I will continue to save or maybe ask for it for Christmas. Not sure how anyone in my family will feel about putting out that kind of money for a cookbook, but hey it doesn't hurt to try right?

[FabulousFoodBabe]

It's made everyone an expert.

[GourmetLight$]

I  am  saving  to buy the French Laundry Cookbook, because that is the absolute one cookbook I really need to have. In the meantime I just go sit in Barnes and Noble and thumb through it and try not to drool. I agree though, buying good cookbooks is like buying art. The French Laundry Cookbook is a good example of that.

←

I got mine at Costco at a discount. Not sure if it's still available there, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

←

Costco hasn't opened here yet, sadly and it will be awhile before it does. So I will continue to save or maybe ask for it for Christmas. Not sure how anyone in my family will feel about putting out that kind of money for a cookbook, but hey it doesn't hurt to try right?

←

They're less than $30 new on eBay.

Cheers,

[dividend]

RE: Internet storage of recipes, I use www.recipezaar.com. I think it's like $20/year or something for "premium membership", and it's really simple to input recipes, plus you automatically get nutrition analysis for each one (that could be good or bad ). Kind of cool community, less gourmet-oriented than around here though. You can make your recipes public, so other people can see them and review them, or keep them private. It works for me.

[annachan]

I  am  saving  to buy the French Laundry Cookbook, because that is the absolute one cookbook I really need to have. In the meantime I just go sit in Barnes and Noble and thumb through it and try not to drool. I agree though, buying good cookbooks is like buying art. The French Laundry Cookbook is a good example of that.

←

I got mine at Costco at a discount. Not sure if it's still available there, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

←

Costco hasn't opened here yet, sadly and it will be awhile before it does. So I will continue to save or maybe ask for it for Christmas. Not sure how anyone in my family will feel about putting out that kind of money for a cookbook, but hey it doesn't hurt to try right?

←

They're less than $30 new on eBay.

Cheers,

←

Amazon has it for $31.50 new, about $25 used.

[jgm]

Another possibility for saving recipes on the computer, is Xdrive, at www.xdrive.com. It's an online storage facility, and in addition to recipes, you can save any other computer files you wish. I think it's currently running about $10 a month for 5gb of storage.

[lucylou95816]

I agree with the poster above that stated having the recipe written out in someone's hand is precious. My mom died a long time ago, and I still have a ton of her recipes that I come across in her handwriting, its a nice rememberance. As for the internet's role, well, two words come to mind: Food Porn. I love looking at and posting pictures of meals. I am in a monthly dinner club, where at each dinner, I take pictures of the different courses and post it to a members message board with the recipes and its cool. We recently did a tamale making party, and have pics from each step in the assembly process. Sadly, since its a new group, not everyone is as jazzed about it as I am, I hope with time, they'll appreciate it too.

As for recipe books, I am starting a nice collection, and look to recommendations from people I read articles from. I do print all of my recipes off the internet that I use and put them into a binder book (along with magazine cutouts) that is sectioned off by different types of foods. When I get something off of Food Network, I save it my recipe box that is online on that site.

I honestly don't know how my cooking skills/inspiration would be without the internet. I fell like cooking say, curry and can find several recipes in seconds and then turn to boards like this one and others to get help/advice. I love the internet.

[kristin_71]

I will look into ebay and amazon thanks! I keep loose recipes on a disc or jump drive. All in one place easy to find so if something happens to the computer, I can access them. A great website for recipes is the Splendid Table. I get their newsletter and keep the recipes in a separte file in my email account so I can access it from anywhere.

I agree with you Lucy, handwritten recipes are precious. My mom has some my grandmother had written out and now that she is not here they mean alot. I have a cookbook from her church of ethnic Lebanese food and that too has a note in it to me. Every so often I pull that cookbook out and look at it and think of her. Little things like that mean alot.

[thursdaynext]

I really enjoy my cookbook and food writing collection, but have found that I buy fewer volumes than in the past. I've become much more selective in my purchases, and the eGullet community has been a valuable resource in helping me to choose new volumes to add. I love the "Cooking from…" threads, both those that specify a particular book, and others that name a region or technique.

RecipeGullet and a few other internet sites have been good resources for looking up recipes when I'm in a hurry, or not at home- for example, getting a menu inspiration while at (ahem) work. My "keeper" printouts and other loose recipes are in big, tabbed, three-ring binders.

I was also inspired by bleudauvergne's blogs to start a journal for recording menus, recipes that I've made my own (or invented!), wine & cheese tastings, sources, etc.

I have two recipe programs on my home computer, but haven't used them for ages- not sure why.

[markemorse]

I'm going to say that the internet, and specifically eGullet, have made me feel more comfortable about my obsession with food. In my 20s, I didn't know another single person (male or female) who regularly (daily) read cookbooks for pleasure; or meticulously plotted a visit to every BBQ joint in town; or bought 5 different kinds of chorizo, or mushrooms, or hot sauce or anything, just for comparison's sake.

eGullet has shown me that, not only am I not alone, but also that my level of obsession is really rather moderate.

thanks eGullet!

mark

[rooftop1000]

Since there has been a little side talk on where we store recipes....I have to say I was a bit panicked yesterday as I looked for the scrap of paper with my rudimentary instructions for a sourdough pullman. I found it under the bills and just to be safe taped it to the inside of the cabinet door over the mixer.

tracey

mmm spelled my name wrong

Edited August 29, 2006 by rooftop1000 (log)