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Maybe I'm in the minority with this but I prefer the introductory text. It often provides a bit of explanation and context to recipes. A recipe itself is worth

Maybe I'm in the minority with this but I prefer the introductory text. It often provides a bit of explanation and context to recipes. A recipe itself is worth little by itself, it's the annotations and suggestions and so forth that are useful sometimes. There are badly written blogs, or manipulatively structured websites, but writing introductions per se isn't bad. To be honest, the "mommy blog" epithet comes across as sexist to me. No one would level that label at Kenji Lopez Alt or David Lebowitz but they use the same format: https://www.seriouseats.com/classic-smashed-burgers-recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/classic-smashed-burgers-recipe https://www.davidlebovitz.com/quiche-lorraine-recipe-recette/ https://www.davidlebovitz.com/quiche-lorraine-recipe-recette... You might object and say those are different because they're well-written and informative, but then isn't that my point? There's nothing wrong with a "just the recipes" website — to each their own, and some things are useful in the right context. But there's also nothing wrong with a website that explains the recipes and tells a story along the way. You might not be interested, or it might not be that well-written, but that's the way written communication has always worked for eons.

guhidalg 5y ago
I would consider those two "mommy blogs", though I will stop calling them that and instead use "food blogs". No offense against mothers, everyone has one. Some people like the format of food blogs, most people don't. Every single person I talk to about CookTime immediately mentions how they love there is no backstory, context, literary prose they have to scroll through to get to a recipe. We are already solving the problem of too much food blog text on a page.
Nursie 5y ago
> A recipe itself is worth little by itself, When I'm looking for a way to cook a particular thing, the recipe is worth everything, and anything around it is simply a waste of my time and attention. > No one would level that label at Kenji Lopez Alt or David Lebowitz but they use the same format. You might object and say those are different because they're well-written and informative I'm absolutely not going to say they're different because they're well written and informative - if I'm just looking for the method and ingredients for a particular dish that I already know I want to cook, right now, which is 95%+ of my interaction with recipe websites, their text is equally useless and obstructive. You're right 'mommy blog' might be the wrong term here, and may even be sexist, but it absolutely is a blog and honestly, I don't care. I'm here for the ingredients and mechanical instructions. > there's also nothing wrong with a website that explains the recipes and tells a story along the way. There's nothing 'wrong', it's not some grave sin to create such a thing, but it's certainly far less useful and not what I'm interested in. > that's the way written communication has always worked for eons. Sure, but I'm not looking for communication, I'm looking for a way to make quiche with as little distraction as possible. I'm making dinner, not reading your site for fun.

guhidalg 5y ago

I would consider those two "mommy blogs", though I will stop calling them that and instead use "food blogs". No offense against mothers, everyone has one. Some people like the format of food blogs, most people don't. Every single person I talk to about CookTime immediately mentions how they love there is no backstory, context, literary prose they have to scroll through to get to a recipe. We are already solving the problem of too much food blog text on a page.

Nursie 5y ago

> A recipe itself is worth little by itself, When I'm looking for a way to cook a particular thing, the recipe is worth everything, and anything around it is simply a waste of my time and attention. > No one would level that label at Kenji Lopez Alt or David Lebowitz but they use the same format. You might object and say those are different because they're well-written and informative I'm absolutely not going to say they're different because they're well written and informative - if I'm just looking for the method and ingredients for a particular dish that I already know I want to cook, right now, which is 95%+ of my interaction with recipe websites, their text is equally useless and obstructive. You're right 'mommy blog' might be the wrong term here, and may even be sexist, but it absolutely is a blog and honestly, I don't care. I'm here for the ingredients and mechanical instructions. > there's also nothing wrong with a website that explains the recipes and tells a story along the way. There's nothing 'wrong', it's not some grave sin to create such a thing, but it's certainly far less useful and not what I'm interested in. > that's the way written communication has always worked for eons. Sure, but I'm not looking for communication, I'm looking for a way to make quiche with as little distraction as possible. I'm making dinner, not reading your site for fun.