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> Recipes are surprisingly deceptive. They seem like instructions you can follow, but a more apt analogy is that the recipe is an iceberg and beginner cooks are

> Recipes are surprisingly deceptive. They seem like instructions you can follow, but a more apt analogy is that the recipe is an iceberg and beginner cooks are steaming along on the Titanic. Devil's advocate (and very serious home cook): Food Youtube solves all of these problems in various and (IMO) much more entertaining and informative ways. There's a plethora of content ranging from highly-technical restaurant inspired recipes to "authentic" home cooking traditions passed down through generations. Tracking a progress meter isn't going to make me a better cook: having access to lots of different ideas and styles and trying the ones that speak to me will make me a better cook. Also, our tastes are largely inspired by what we ate growing up and there few universally-loved recipes. That's one of the most beautiful things about cooking: there's a million different ways to do it. You don't know how to chop an onion? There are a million videos on how to do that. Want to know the history of a certain spice? There's a channel for that.

mizzao 4y ago
I appreciate the perspective, it's a common objection. Similar arguments I've heard are that in order to learn to cook, you need to do one of: - read a lot of cookbooks and understand them - go watch a ton of YouTube videos and triangulate the best way to do it - go get a job in a kitchen (essentially, apprentice) I learn the way you do and I totally get where you're coming from. But this only works for serious autodidacts. For everyone else, doing any of the above is a pain in the butt. So that's the problem we're trying to solve. The magic of the tech tree is that it addresses the issue of "you can't type what you don't know into Google."
- IanCal 4y ago
  > go watch a ton of YouTube videos and triangulate the best way to do it I don't understand this, you can watch one video of someone just cooking a thing you think sounds tasty.
  - blakesley 4y ago
    No? I'm clearly the prime demographic for this app because your comment makes no sense to me. Most recipe videos skip the tedious (but important) bits, and many ALSO don't give notes about needed techniques. I often find that 1 recipe video results in me watching at least 5 other videos to clarify things that were left out, usually in pairs so I can compare/contrast the info provided. Because, again, I'm new to this whole thing and I can't tell which advice is good/relevant/etc Just to clarify, I'm not defending their app, I'm defending the problem statement.
    - IanCal 4y ago
      Is this just about finding good sources? People like Adam Ragusea seem to me like they cover pretty much everything, and he just shows a sped up video for all the chopping/etc as he explains it. Something like this https://youtu.be/p53xab3c3tg https://youtu.be/p53xab3c3tg
      - blakesley 4y ago
        That's certainly important, but again, there's just so many pieces to cooking that experienced cooks don't even think about anymore, but are still uncertain & awkward to noobs. Btw, your response implies that you deny this point, but I don't understand why that would be. Most activities are this way. People aren't born knowing how to play sports or use computers or make art, whatever. Cooking is no exception. Anyway, thanks for the rec, I'll definitely check out Adam's recipe vids (I'm more familiar with his non-recipe vids)
- kshahkshah 4y ago
  Are you sure that is a pain for 'everyone else'. Who are these people? If they aren't self-learners for all the other free resources available to them, why would they be self-learners (autodidacts) for your app? I really don't believe that these are all your options for learning to cook. You can be taught by a friend or a parent. You can just read a recipe online and try to follow along. You can take classes - you don't have to apprentice in a professional kitchen. Beyond that everyone has to eat. So they know what they like to eat. So for me, the argument that 'you can't type what you don't know' doesn't really hold for me. You're googling for something you do know and then from there if you don't know one of the steps (dicing an onion) you can pretty trivially look that up.

mizzao 4y ago

I appreciate the perspective, it's a common objection. Similar arguments I've heard are that in order to learn to cook, you need to do one of: - read a lot of cookbooks and understand them - go watch a ton of YouTube videos and triangulate the best way to do it - go get a job in a kitchen (essentially, apprentice) I learn the way you do and I totally get where you're coming from. But this only works for serious autodidacts. For everyone else, doing any of the above is a pain in the butt. So that's the problem we're trying to solve. The magic of the tech tree is that it addresses the issue of "you can't type what you don't know into Google."

IanCal 4y ago
> go watch a ton of YouTube videos and triangulate the best way to do it I don't understand this, you can watch one video of someone just cooking a thing you think sounds tasty.
- blakesley 4y ago
  No? I'm clearly the prime demographic for this app because your comment makes no sense to me. Most recipe videos skip the tedious (but important) bits, and many ALSO don't give notes about needed techniques. I often find that 1 recipe video results in me watching at least 5 other videos to clarify things that were left out, usually in pairs so I can compare/contrast the info provided. Because, again, I'm new to this whole thing and I can't tell which advice is good/relevant/etc Just to clarify, I'm not defending their app, I'm defending the problem statement.
  - IanCal 4y ago
    Is this just about finding good sources? People like Adam Ragusea seem to me like they cover pretty much everything, and he just shows a sped up video for all the chopping/etc as he explains it. Something like this https://youtu.be/p53xab3c3tg https://youtu.be/p53xab3c3tg
    - blakesley 4y ago
      That's certainly important, but again, there's just so many pieces to cooking that experienced cooks don't even think about anymore, but are still uncertain & awkward to noobs. Btw, your response implies that you deny this point, but I don't understand why that would be. Most activities are this way. People aren't born knowing how to play sports or use computers or make art, whatever. Cooking is no exception. Anyway, thanks for the rec, I'll definitely check out Adam's recipe vids (I'm more familiar with his non-recipe vids)
kshahkshah 4y ago
Are you sure that is a pain for 'everyone else'. Who are these people? If they aren't self-learners for all the other free resources available to them, why would they be self-learners (autodidacts) for your app? I really don't believe that these are all your options for learning to cook. You can be taught by a friend or a parent. You can just read a recipe online and try to follow along. You can take classes - you don't have to apprentice in a professional kitchen. Beyond that everyone has to eat. So they know what they like to eat. So for me, the argument that 'you can't type what you don't know' doesn't really hold for me. You're googling for something you do know and then from there if you don't know one of the steps (dicing an onion) you can pretty trivially look that up.