Why did you join CookingBites? And, why did you stay?

[Morning Glory]

Thus my disdain for the words "Authentic" and "Traditional"!To me these terms belong to families within a culture. Each hast their authentic/traditional ways of making a dish. The original dish may have been popularized by a region or individual, but each family/generation has their own version! I also can't stand folks that imply that a certain chef's version or method is "The gold standard".

I agree!

 

[TastyReuben]

Thus my disdain for the words "Authentic" and "Traditional"!To me these terms belong to families within a culture. Each hast their authentic/traditional ways of making a dish. The original dish may have been popularized by a region or individual, but each family/generation has their own version! I also can't stand folks that imply that a certain chef's version or method is "The gold standard".

I could not agree with that more! Too many times, "authentic" really is "what I grew up with," and that doesn't really mean anything.

I watched a program a while back, and on the subject of authenticity (in a larger discussion about pizza), the host made the argument that a pizza from a particular region used the ingredients that were local - this kind of tomato and that kind of cheese, etc, and then that somehow, in order for a pizza made a million miles away in, say, Japan, to be considered "authentic" would have to use ingredients that just weren't available, and that in his mind, "authentic" meant, "do what those local cooks did - use readily-available local ingredients." So, if you're in Japan, and you don't have tomatoes grown at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, then use the locally-grown tomatoes you do have, and now...it's "authentic."

I liked that perspective.

 

[CraigC]

I could not agree with that more! Too many times, "authentic" really is "what I grew up with," and that doesn't really mean anything.

I watched a program a while back, and on the subject of authenticity (in a larger discussion about pizza), the host made the argument that a pizza from a particular region used the ingredients that were local - this kind of tomato and that kind of cheese, etc, and then that somehow, in order for a pizza made a million miles away in, say, Japan, to be considered "authentic" would have to use ingredients that just weren't available, and that in his mind, "authentic" meant, "do what those local cooks did - use readily-available local ingredients." So, if you're in Japan, and you don't have tomatoes grown at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, then use the locally-grown tomatoes you do have, and now...it's "authentic."

I liked that perspective.

I grew up with Cubans, eating at their homes many times. Even the black bean recipes varied from family to family. In their culture it is not uncommon for 3 generations to be living in the same home.

 

[Karen W]

Re Why did you join CB...? I smelled food. Lol. I like to learn about food(s) etc. that are new to me, or different than what I am accustomed to. Re How I found this site, think I mentioned in my intro, I was searching for something food related. Don't recall.
Every site is different.

Don't care for:
Copy and paste sites
Overly moderated forums
Forums where members go on & on about themselves. Cut to the chase & talk about the food, or get a blog.

 

[TastyReuben]

Forums where members go on & on about themselves. Cut to the chase & talk about the food, or get a blog.

That is one thing that really turns me off about a lot of food blogs. If I'm on a food blog, I'm looking for a recipe, and not the story behind the recipe, and I especially don't like loads and loads of hi-res photos that aren't showing preparation steps.

Now, I get that some people do want that, so to me, the best blogs, if they're going that route of telling a story along with the recipe, have a link to the recipe right at the top, so I don't have to scroll and scroll and then have the page readjust as it loads 13 more pictures of whatever and scroll and scroll some more, just to finally get to the recipe. There's more than one blog I've tossed and said, "Not worth the wait/effort," because it's 90% story and 10% recipe.

 

[Karen W]

I expect that from blogs, not from cooking/food sites with other members. I just scroll down to the recipe on blogs.

 

[Morning Glory]

Now, I get that some people do want that, so to me, the best blogs, if they're going that route of telling a story along with the recipe, have a link to the recipe right at the top, so I don't have to scroll and scroll and then have the page readjust as it loads 13 more pictures of whatever and scroll and scroll some more, just to finally get to the recipe. There's more than one blog I've tossed and said, "Not worth the wait/effort," because it's 90% story and 10% recipe.

I totally agree. Although - I have no issue here with the speed of downloading as I'm on a good internet connection (its instant). Scrolling through all the pre-amble and photos really p*sses me off. But it seems that the Google rating system doesn't agree with us. @TodayInTheKitchen knows about this. Certain criteria are used which includes the amount of content other than the recipe itself.

Are you able to see the bloggers section of this forum? Its only viewable once you have been a member for a while/made a certain number of posts. If you can, it would be worth posting a thread about this issue...

 

[TastyReuben]

Are you able to see the bloggers section of this forum? Its only viewable once you have been a member for a while/made a certain number of posts. If you can, it would be worth posting a thread about this issue...

I don't see anything related to blogs here, but it could also be because I'm exclusively on a phone, and I've found that limits some things.

 

[Morning Glory]

I don't see anything related to blogs here, but it could also be because I'm exclusively on a phone, and I've found that limits some things.

It won't be to do with the phone. Its probably 'cos you're a fairly new member.

Its appears here:

 

[TastyReuben]

Thanks, I don't see that yet. I'll have to wait!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Thanks, I don't see that yet. I'll have to wait!

Log off and back on and it should be available. If not it will happen automatically inside 10 days.

 

[TastyReuben]

Log off and back on and it should be available. If not it will happen automatically inside 10 days.

It's there now, thanks!

 

[Mountain Cat]

I was in the mood to discuss food, not just look up food recipes and such. So I hit Google, and here I am.

I'm staying because I find the folk here to be friendly, and we have lots of topics, and have fun, and people discuss posts/recipes.

(Took me awhile to get around to responding to this topic, but here I did.)

 

[Cinnamonita]

-I love peering into the detailed discussions between people nerding out on food.
-I love learning about what people routinely do that I'd never thought of trying, or getting that new angle on a dish that I thought I knew through and through
-I love food photography, both the polished images and also the everyday rough and casual shots that provide an intimate window into someone's edible experiences
-I'm experimenting with food blogging, video, as well as recipe design. I appreciate the feedback that kitchen-immersed people with broad varieties of culinary skill sets have on what I'm doing.
-This forum is unusual in its density of people who have the propensity for thoughtful communication. A lot of community-oriented folks, here, and that makes it feel very welcoming.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Cooking Bites is a very well run forum.

I’m semi-active in a few forums mostly Motorsport or travel.
Some sleepy and just move along slowly and some the owners are getting rich.
Some so busy your threads are on page 4 in just hours.

This forum flows nicely. Friendly and we all learn.
I have a few recipes that friends love and I share. I’m no cook. I’m always wingin’ It.

I’ve been a moderator on forums and things could get real ugly real quick.
Some idiot(s) posting links to adult sites, arguments over sports teams that leads to threats against each other, a thread that defaults to “who knows the most”, that goes to personal attacks, spam, all kinds of shenanigans.

Manchester City won a game against MU once and the opinions went South instantly and lots of people, really good people got some long and permanent bans over those feuds.

Don’t seem to have that here.
I figured with my appalling sentence structure, lame slang and spelling would surly draw a few arrows but so far no drama.