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From the Web to the Kitchen- Allrecipes Background

Trading recipes with friends and neighbors is a tradition that is ingrained in American culture. Whether it’s the perfect apple pie or a secret ingredient to give chili that extra zip, people are always seeking helpful hints and new ideas.

Allrecipes was launched in 1997 when a group of web developers, who also happened to be frustrated foodies, created Cookierecipes.com as a way to share their favorite cookie recipes. Realizing the potential of the Internet to connect home cooks across the country, a new way to share recipes was born. As the site gained popularity it expanded to include recipes of every kind. Allrecipes is now one of the most heavily trafficked food sites on the Internet, averaging more than 6 million unique visitors each month and boasting the largest community of active, engaged home cooks in the world.

State of Cooking in America
Fueled in part by the popularity of cable television’s Food Network and growth of artisan food companies in the United States, interest in food and cooking has skyrocketed in recent years. Much of this growth focuses on serving an audience that skews to the gourmet sector, leaving both seasoned and inexperienced home cooks looking for an easy-to-use resource for trusted recipes, meal planning tools, cooking tips and food advice. This renewed interest in cooking has also come at a time when more families are depending on income from two working parents. Time spent together as a family is tough to come by, placing a growing emphasis on the dinner hour.

In addition to living increasingly busy lifestyles, Americans have become more tech savvy and are accustom to the instant gratification the Internet provides. Many home cooks are strapped for time and are turning to the Internet to help them with planning weekly meals.

Allrecipes recognized that home cooks needed a partner in the struggle to create great tasting, satisfying meals and provides one of the largest collections of recipes on the Internet as well as practical advice, meal ideas and recipe photos from home cooks across the country. As a result, Allrecipes has become an indispensable resource for cooks and helped transform what for many was a stressful, complicated, time consuming task into a simple, enjoyable and rewarding process. A testament to the influence of Allrecipes, more than 77 percent of users visit the grocery store the same day they visit the site to plan meals, according to a 2005 Allrecipes visitor survey. The same survey also showed that 86 percent of Allrecipes home cooks visit the site weekly.

Five Million Cooks Can’t be Wrong
With more than 45,000 recipes created, tested, rated and enjoyed by Allrecipes’ loyal audience of over 20 million home cooks, users get an authentic idea of what recipes real, time pressed people cook everyday. In fact, Allrecipes could be considered the largest ongoing focus group in the world centering on the habits of home cooks. The fact that recipes are created by real people, not chefs, lets users know they can trust Allrecipes to find a fast, mid-week family dinner idea or a recipe to experiment with on the weekend with friends. Recipe reviews posted by Allrecipes members confirm recipes are trusted and allow users to share their personal experiences, tips and recipe twists with other home cooks.

Allrecipes also provides users with tools and advice to teach everything from how to stock their pantry and what to substitute in a recipe that calls for cake flour to what a marinade does. Rather than seeking advice from a gourmet chef who speaks a different language, Allrecipes provides home cooks with resources they can use. Tools like a nutritional analysis, scaling and metric conversion, automated shopping lists, spice advice and an ingredient-based search engine help users to quickly find what they are looking for and make the most of their time.

The Allrecipes mission has always been to provide an easy, efficient, and reliable everyday resource for recipes and cooking advice that busy home cooks can trust. The site has established itself as a familiar and reliable friend for home cooks who are looking to save time and money and still prepare satisfying meals. Allrecipes has become a part of everyday life for millions of home cooks across the country and hopes millions more will discover the rewarding benefits of belonging to the Allrecipes community.