I've traveled back in time, to around 2010, when I would spend hours on Pinterest making inspiration boards for anything and everything. I'm happy to report that I never made a wedding board, but I did save images of wildly unattainable vacations and ridiculously boho interiors. My college self was really into macrame. I thought about deleting those old boards, but honestly, they're time capsules to my prior tastes, and I still can remember how certain images initiated some creative pursuits. (I made a pallet table for my apartment in Israel and think I had entire "pallet furniture" devotion on pinterest.🙄)
Fast forward, and my husband and I are at the beginning stages of building a house, and because we're most doing it ourselves and because neither one of us are architects or designers, I've had a Pinterest homecoming. It's really an incredible tool for sourcing images of rooflines and door trim.
Has anyone else reunited with Pinterest and it feels so good? Or maybe you never left? I thought I'd switch things up this week for the Recipe Roundup and make a VRDNT Pinterest board of recipes for this week's vegetables. Each vegetable got its own board.
There are some pros and cons to gathering recipes on Pinterest. PROS:
It's quick like instant ramen. Really, the process of gathering these recipes is speedy compared to sifting through my tried and true online recipe sources.
It's fun to make. Social media endorphins are 'a flowing.
It's visually driven, and we eat with our eyes first. It makes for a tantalizing (looking) collection of recipes.
In some ways, it seems to prioritize gimmicky/click-bait-worthy recipes. This is also a con, but for someone in a CSA who has just received carrots for the 8th week in a row, the idea to make 'Hasselback carrots' might be a welcome trick. Also, rutabaga breakfast noodles. (Go to the "Cooked Carrot" and "Rutabaga" board to see these recipes.)
It's an EXCELLENT way to organize online recipes you already know you like.
CONS:
It seems to prioritize the same content, over and over again... making it less useful to find new types of recipes. (But still great to organize the ones you already love.)
It's cumbersome to see the source of a recipe, and therefore, it's hard to know whether these recipes are tested and vetted. And while I know the photos are beautiful, it's hard to at-a-glance know what is even in the dish and if that will be tasty.
Similarly, you're pinning photos: There's a good chance that at least one of the things I pinned to the VRDNT boards isn't a recipe at all, and may instead link out to a real estate website or something.
The marketer in me is sad to be leading you away from the VRDNT website. And also, social media can be a vortex and I hope I'm not welcoming you to an unnecessary one.
It's just another thing... and if you've got addictive social media tendencies like me, it would be easy to spend more time "pinning" than actually "cooking". Pinterest. Yay or nay? Happy cooking!