Foodista.com is an online, community-based cooking encyclopedia. The site is free to use and is sustained by members creating, editing and sharing recipes. We spoke with founder Barnaby Dorfman about the inspiration behind Foodista and their newest projects, including their upcoming The Kids Cook Monday contest. Starting Monday, July 27th , users are encouraged to submit their favorite kid-friendly recipes and family cooking videos to be featured on The Kids Cook Monday! and Foodista.com.
How did Foodista start and what was the initial inspiration behind the website?
Food and cooking are essential to human existence. Not only does eating sustain us, but it is core to so much of our culture. And yet, the extremes of obesity and malnutrition are rampant throughout the world. So I decided to use technology and the Web to help people learn about cooking and improve their relationships with food.
What are some commonly held myths about cooking that Foodista hopes to counter?
I think the biggest is that cooking is hard and that there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. The truth is if you get in the kitchen, have fun, and create food that tastes good to somebody…you are cooking!
Are there any unexpected features of Foodista.com that users may not know about upon first glance?
That everyone can jump in and help with editing. Like Wikipedia, Foodista.com is a community effort and we are building the world’s largest and most comprehensive cooking encyclopedia. Most people are shy about editing content online, but once they jump in, folks find it very rewarding to contribute their ideas and knowledge.
How else does Foodista create community amongst its readers?
Each member gets a profile page where they can both share and see all the activity on the website. We also have a number of categories, contributors and leaderboards, including a virtual kitchen. Finally, the website is setup to allow members to connect accounts with Facebook and Twitter to easily share activity with friends and followers.
What motivated Foodista to host your The Kids Cook Monday contest?
Kids are incredibly creative and usually fearless when trying new combinations in the kitchen. We’re all about learning about the world of food and cooking, who better to help us in that exploration!
How can families use Foodista to help in their Monday meal planning?
We’ve all walked by some strange fruit or vegetable in the supermarket and thought “what do you do with that?” Foodista.com can help you find out about almost any food, including recipes. Also, we are community edited, so we’d love for you to share anything you learn from your own experiments, including original recipes.
What other family-friendly projects are you working on?
We’re working on a new set of collectible badges that will be a lot of fun for kids. Kind of like merit badges earned by the Girl and Boy Scouts, members of Foodista.com will earn virtual badges for accomplishing goals, like editing food articles, adding recipes, and uploading photos.
