I've spoken before about Pinterest, and how pretty everything is on there, but there's another side, a very definite, and I can only guess american trend - the easy fix.
Easy cheats, how to make things without the effort, how to cheat, how to make restaurant specials at home, so you end up with a massive jug of frappachino mix or a dressing not too dissimilar from the amazing blue cheese dressing at Pizza Hut (this is our holy grail - we've gone to PH just to eat the Blue Cheese dressing) and it shows an interesting side of people, and if you look at the ingredients they use, and most of these tips and tricks would be impossible to remake outside of the states.
This isn't a new thing - Top Secret Recipes was one of the first websites I remember checking back and linking too - even if I was looking at recipes I had no idea what the original tasted like, but it's impressive so much effort is given over to making things easy and tasty - as opposed to learning about foods, flavours and how to make genuinely, wonderful, home cooked food. I always think it's a shame when people try and recreate restaurant food at home, it's always disappointing and it sullies the home and restaurant experience in my eyes - and it's a shame when people try so hard to cheat and find the easy route, sure it's handy to have a few tips and tricks up your sleeve if you cook a lot, and they'll come with practice, but people seem so ready to find a short cut and skip that actual learning bit - which is surely the fun part...
Easy cheats, how to make things without the effort, how to cheat, how to make restaurant specials at home, so you end up with a massive jug of frappachino mix or a dressing not too dissimilar from the amazing blue cheese dressing at Pizza Hut (this is our holy grail - we've gone to PH just to eat the Blue Cheese dressing) and it shows an interesting side of people, and if you look at the ingredients they use, and most of these tips and tricks would be impossible to remake outside of the states.
This isn't a new thing - Top Secret Recipes was one of the first websites I remember checking back and linking too - even if I was looking at recipes I had no idea what the original tasted like, but it's impressive so much effort is given over to making things easy and tasty - as opposed to learning about foods, flavours and how to make genuinely, wonderful, home cooked food. I always think it's a shame when people try and recreate restaurant food at home, it's always disappointing and it sullies the home and restaurant experience in my eyes - and it's a shame when people try so hard to cheat and find the easy route, sure it's handy to have a few tips and tricks up your sleeve if you cook a lot, and they'll come with practice, but people seem so ready to find a short cut and skip that actual learning bit - which is surely the fun part...