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OP here. A couple of thoughts... We created this app to focus on teaching beginners, so the content assumes no prior knowledge (for now). It's clearly elicitin

by mizzao 4y ago

OP here. A couple of thoughts... We created this app to focus on teaching beginners, so the content assumes no prior knowledge (for now). It's clearly eliciting strong reactions from experienced cooks, who have many opinions about how to do things. But put yourself in their shoes: if you wanted to learn how to make a Botan shrimp nigiri (perhaps that's new to you), how would you learn about sushi rice, how to buy live shrimp, how to fillet the shrimp, preparing wasabi, etc? We hope this model can apply. > they might deign to tell you how to actually cook a hamburger. The dirty secret is that by the time you get to the end of the quizzes, you'll already know how to cook the hamburger. The recipe is ridiculously elementary.

drc500free 4y ago
I really like the concept of breaking things down to ingredients and techniques. I think your "naked knowledge graph" is worse than other approaches. I can't tell if it needs polish or a different structure. The thing that stands out to me is context. A lot of your questions are presented as if they are context-free, but they are highly contextual both when they are written and when they are presented. E.g. The meat spoilage question was written from the context of purchasing meat, not checking meat in your fridge. Your egg questions are written from an American perspective. That's fine if you know it and present it in the context it was written in. When you rip those from the context they were written in, and present them bare, it's confusing and sometimes can mean something incorrect. The other part is the recipe itself is contextual, but the knowledge graph isn't picking up some nuance. Hard cheese doesn't melt well, so why are you bringing up how to store it? It seems like you're grabbing the "cheese" node and whatever questions come with it. Maybe you can fix that by specifying "soft cheese." Your knowledge graph needs to be truly context free, and/or it needs to contextualize its elements correctly for the recipe (and culture). Right now you're not really doing either.
- IanCal 4y ago
  I feel like the knowledge graph idea only works at a higher level. Rather than "how to buy an egg" unlocking "how to store an egg" and then "how to boil an egg" I want "hey there's a thing called mirepoix that's pretty fundamental, learn how to do it properly". I learned about lactofermentation, it's really easy and opens a huge range of things.
- spockz 4y ago
  I agree with you wholeheartedly on the app. There is so much wealth and context when it comes to food. Every region, culture etc has their own ways. Like a sibling says to store pieces of cheese that you won’t use in a freezer. I can imagine that framing all of the questions in the right context all the time is hard. But now it seems to be a bit too simple “know-it-all”.
IanCal 4y ago
> But put yourself in their shoes: if you wanted to learn how to make a Botan shrimp nigiri (perhaps that's new to you), how would you learn about sushi rice, how to buy live shrimp, how to fillet the shrimp, preparing wasabi, etc? We hope this model can apply I typed "botan shrimp nigiri" into Google and got detailed videos showing me how to prepare, fillet, cook the shrimp. Most full recipe videos explain side bits about what to buy and things like that. > The dirty secret is that by the time you get to the end of the quizzes, you'll already know how to cook the hamburger. The recipe is ridiculously elementary. Here's where I think there's a disconnect. Why would someone not start with a recipe which shows most of this and then look up the bits they are missing? You seem to be then targeting someone who wants a broader base understanding of cooking at home, so why would a basic cooking course not be the structure?
- mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
  Amplifying your comment, this seems like a huge disconnect that they are assuming a beginner home cook is going to do everything from scratch. > how would you learn about sushi rice, how to buy live shrimp, how to fillet the shrimp, preparing wasabi Buy pre-filleted frozen shrimp and ready made wasabi and tips on taking regular rice to a sushi rice quality. The goal for a beginner should be the easiest path to success and with cooking that is a meal that was safely prepared. Then build on that later - like if they like spicy these are some things to try.

by mizzao 4y ago

drc500free 4y ago

I really like the concept of breaking things down to ingredients and techniques. I think your "naked knowledge graph" is worse than other approaches. I can't tell if it needs polish or a different structure. The thing that stands out to me is context. A lot of your questions are presented as if they are context-free, but they are highly contextual both when they are written and when they are presented. E.g. The meat spoilage question was written from the context of purchasing meat, not checking meat in your fridge. Your egg questions are written from an American perspective. That's fine if you know it and present it in the context it was written in. When you rip those from the context they were written in, and present them bare, it's confusing and sometimes can mean something incorrect. The other part is the recipe itself is contextual, but the knowledge graph isn't picking up some nuance. Hard cheese doesn't melt well, so why are you bringing up how to store it? It seems like you're grabbing the "cheese" node and whatever questions come with it. Maybe you can fix that by specifying "soft cheese." Your knowledge graph needs to be truly context free, and/or it needs to contextualize its elements correctly for the recipe (and culture). Right now you're not really doing either.

IanCal 4y ago
I feel like the knowledge graph idea only works at a higher level. Rather than "how to buy an egg" unlocking "how to store an egg" and then "how to boil an egg" I want "hey there's a thing called mirepoix that's pretty fundamental, learn how to do it properly". I learned about lactofermentation, it's really easy and opens a huge range of things.
spockz 4y ago
I agree with you wholeheartedly on the app. There is so much wealth and context when it comes to food. Every region, culture etc has their own ways. Like a sibling says to store pieces of cheese that you won’t use in a freezer. I can imagine that framing all of the questions in the right context all the time is hard. But now it seems to be a bit too simple “know-it-all”.

IanCal 4y ago

> But put yourself in their shoes: if you wanted to learn how to make a Botan shrimp nigiri (perhaps that's new to you), how would you learn about sushi rice, how to buy live shrimp, how to fillet the shrimp, preparing wasabi, etc? We hope this model can apply I typed "botan shrimp nigiri" into Google and got detailed videos showing me how to prepare, fillet, cook the shrimp. Most full recipe videos explain side bits about what to buy and things like that. > The dirty secret is that by the time you get to the end of the quizzes, you'll already know how to cook the hamburger. The recipe is ridiculously elementary. Here's where I think there's a disconnect. Why would someone not start with a recipe which shows most of this and then look up the bits they are missing? You seem to be then targeting someone who wants a broader base understanding of cooking at home, so why would a basic cooking course not be the structure?

mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
Amplifying your comment, this seems like a huge disconnect that they are assuming a beginner home cook is going to do everything from scratch. > how would you learn about sushi rice, how to buy live shrimp, how to fillet the shrimp, preparing wasabi Buy pre-filleted frozen shrimp and ready made wasabi and tips on taking regular rice to a sushi rice quality. The goal for a beginner should be the easiest path to success and with cooking that is a meal that was safely prepared. Then build on that later - like if they like spicy these are some things to try.