cheryl
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Do online recipes come with too much backstory? It’s all part of the joy of food - The Guardian
You might be sick of scrolling through the text before a recipe – but food is essential to culture, and should never be reduced to a simple to-do list
These days just about every recipe in the world is only a Google search away.
But click through to the results and instead of a neat set of instructions often you’re wading through a meandering, 1,000-word story of the dish’s reception by Mary’s two little “fussy eaters” (spoiler alert: they ate it all and asked for seconds), or Sam and Lucy’s trip to Thailand where they found a “little stall” in a “little alleyway” where their Pad Thai was prepared by “adorable little man” who spoke no English (they managed to order by pointing at things).
Just skip to the recipe, you might think. But before you roll your eyes at every cook’s personal story, think of the alternative. Although recipes are transactional by their nature, they should never exist in isolation. Food is not a bare set of ingredients and instructions.
You might be sick of scrolling through the text before a recipe – but food is essential to culture, and should never be reduced to a simple to-do list
These days just about every recipe in the world is only a Google search away.
But click through to the results and instead of a neat set of instructions often you’re wading through a meandering, 1,000-word story of the dish’s reception by Mary’s two little “fussy eaters” (spoiler alert: they ate it all and asked for seconds), or Sam and Lucy’s trip to Thailand where they found a “little stall” in a “little alleyway” where their Pad Thai was prepared by “adorable little man” who spoke no English (they managed to order by pointing at things).
Just skip to the recipe, you might think. But before you roll your eyes at every cook’s personal story, think of the alternative. Although recipes are transactional by their nature, they should never exist in isolation. Food is not a bare set of ingredients and instructions.