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Re:Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking by mizzao on Thursday July 28, 2022 @03:08PM (#32268827)
We agree with you 150%. Because of the algorithms driving social media, so much of food content is meant to be entertainment, not education, and far from accessible. Because of the focus on attention, cooking appears way harder than it has to be. Here are some of the principles driving what we're doing:

Cooking fundamentals rather than recipes

Education rather than entertainment ("food porn")

Don't have the right tool? No problem! Here are 3 ways to improvise

Missing that ingredient? No problem! Here are 3 substitutes

Scaling primarily using software/data/ML instead of hardware (capital-intensive) or physical delivery (operations heavy)

Exponentially less content to create with knowledge blocks ("legos") rather than recipes ("what you build with the legos")

"Learn to make this with Parsnip" rather than "buy these groceries" or "order this food" or "watch this video"

Encouraging you to be the creative process vs. outsourcing work to someone else

I believe we have a few aces up our sleeve for avoiding the status trap. You can get a sense of how we're thinking about it here: https://parsnip.substack.com/p/why-now

Re:Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking by MisterBastahrd on Thursday July 28, 2022 @07:56PM (#32271514)
Yeah, what's the big thing that people feature? Beef.

Wagyu, wellington, organic grass fed, etc. Aside from knowing how to stew it and sear it, there's not really much to it, yet people will create video after video of $150 tomahawks and $200 wagyu ribeyes. And when they aren't cooking it out of the package, they're coating it with all sorts of weird shit that require special fermentation chambers to properly dry age.

Then there are the foods that look easy to prepare because the person in the video has 5 years of professional kitchen experience and can julienne a walrus faster than you can peel an apple.

Re:Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking by _carbyau_ on Thursday July 28, 2022 @10:39PM (#32272572)
Even Nat's what I reckon, (may not be SFW language): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEFW1E8QzP-hKxjO2Rj68wg

was a bit of fun and seemed to be "common man".

Except he clearly has some cooking skills, especially with a knife. Not sure he could julienne a walrus (NFI what Julienne is..) but he isn't a pleb in the kitchen.

Re:Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking by NatSydenham on Friday July 29, 2022 @04:11AM (#32274302)
Love that channel and the message that with a small amount of effort and skill you can make excellent dishes 1000% better (and probably healthier) than the pre-packaged version. You don't need the most expensive cuts, or a home made demi-glace, just solid fundamentals with common ingredients.