FOOD ON LINE.

The collections of cookbooks that grace every food lover’s bookshelves are gathering dust.
These books offer terrific presentation ideas for formal dinner parties, but when it comes down to planning something for tonight, with the ingredients that are already in the larder, the computer wins for both speed and innovation.

It’s simple. Just wander over to the computer and go to google or your favourite search engine and type in either the name of the dish you have in mind or a few of the key ingredients you want to use. In seconds, you have your pick of 80 (or sometimes 80,000) ideas and recipes.

Comes the challenge: Do you really want to spend the time searching through the masses of information out there about cardoons or whatever unusual thing you are trying to use? Is this any better than those dusty cookbooks?

A more practical solution is to get to know some of the large food websites and decide which meet your needs. For some people, one site will be enough, just like the Joy of Cooking served so many home cooks for decades. On the other hand, if you are the kind of person with scores of cookbooks, you’ll find that different web sites meet different needs at different times.

Most North Americans foodies know Gourmet Magazine and Bon Appetit. It is only a little disconcerting to see the two of them together on their shared web site “Epicurious”. Take the time to explore the countless dropdowns, and make our way to the five ingredient recipes (the best kind of recipe – simple!).

If you are a joiner, you can register and set up your own recipe box, to keep track of all the recipes that entice you. It’s permission marketing gone a bit wild here, as you will be asked all kinds of things so the web site marketing gurus can figure out what they should be trying to sell you. Perhaps a simpler solution is the old cut and paste mode, and create your own file on your hard drive. http://www.epicurious.com

Don’t be constrained by the familiar. Sticking with the English-speaking world, the UK, Australia and New Zealand have enticing sites that will give you some variety. With the Antipodes, the seasonal commentary will remind you that you should live in the moment, eating what is fresh in your own back yard.

The New Zealand magazine, Cuisine, a beautiful publication, has an equally beautiful and very useful web site – http://www.cuisine.co.nz. Its clean and thoughtful design invariably cheers me up.


When a friend recently brought back a large packet of saffron from Egypt, Cuisine on line came to the rescue with practical tips and suggestions. The section on wine is superb, with intelligent commentary (also ideal for planning trips).

The Australian Women’s Weekly has been generating practical solutions for decades – indeed, the eponymous book series sells well all over the English speaking world.

The one downside – or upside, depending on how oyu look at it – is that this site comes with additional diversions: it seems to be housed on an MSN site - http://aww.ninemsn.com.au. It is very easy to find yourself off task, looking at all sorts of things unrelated to your quest for a Moroccan lamb stew recipe.

On the positive side, you will also get linked into a few other Australian magazines and who knows what you’ll find?

The British may not be famous for their cooking, but that doesn’t mean that they should be ignored completely.

The BBC Food site is extremely well organized and user friendly, with enticing articles about all sorts of food related things that will keep you browsing long after you have found the recipe you are looking for. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/

Some of the websites out there are completely overwhelming - http://www.foodreference.com/html/recipes is one of these, with a small font and articles on just about everything related to food imaginable.

Back in the US, http://www.about.com is an American based web site that boast information on just about everything. This site has an added advantage – you can choose a particular type of food that interests you and get a regular email with hot links to articles and recipes.

The Italian cuisine section has interesting recipes, along with great wine information. The About “Guide” lives in Italy, so there is a real sense of being there. Like most of these sites, you can sign up for a free weekly newsletter as well.

In the end, websites are much like cookbooks – there is a website to suit your mood and needs. It just takes a bit of patience to figure out which one is right for the moment.

Gael Arthur ©