What Do You Want to See on Food52?

Did you know that the editors do not want any suggestions about the site's features and functionality in comments to this post? Within a few seconds, literally, after I made several recommendations regarding functionality, as one of the very first posts here, I was chided thus by Kenzi, an assistant editor: ". . . The purpose of today's post is more to inspire new editorial content, but of course, always feel free to email us about site changes at [email protected]." So please, everyone who commented here, send the editors your suggestions via email. ;o)

Here's another technical suggestion. I participate in another forum where, if you put an @ in front of the person's user name, they get an email that they were tagged in a discussion. I posted a recent hotline question about New Orleans food and mentioned that I made Antoniajames' pecan pie. She saw it and jumped in, but she might not have. It would have been nice if I could have just tagged her.

My biggest shout outs(and thank you for asking):
--Fix photo sequencing in Recipe uploading
--Alphabetical and categorical listing options for archived recipes
-- a Site Talk option separate from Hotline
-- a program that removes contestant I.D.'s from their recipes when the Editors/Judges see the recipes for judging. This would allow for the recipes to be anonymous and the judging to be unbiased.

I would love for there to be an edit function for submitting recipes. Suddenly, when I copy and paste from Apple Pages, odd characters appear. I've received IT responses to the effect that that is the case, but once a recipe is submitted to a contest, no edits are possible. The submission program is a bit cumbersome; I've too often discovered that if I hit the Delete button at the wrong moment, all disappears and I have to start all over again. It's ultimately much easier to write the recipe, its headnotes and ingredients in Pages and use the cut and paste function. An edit function would cut the corner between the two.

I'd love to see a little ticker, up by the "saved" button, that says "Tried this." Not everyone has the time or inclination to write a comment, but they might, after using a recipe, indicate that they made it. People could tic it every time they made the recipe. Then you could see which recipes are real keepers. The number of views is interesting, but that seems increasingly driven by the links in from other sites that display FOOD52 recipes. I've long wanted to know what recipes people are actually using. This seems like a simple coding project, because the tic does not actually need to do anything but count. ;o)

I am a long-time food52 user and I love this site. I like so many of the ideas brought up here: especially more global recipes and cooking features; pantry supper, easy entertaining and kitchen safety posts; and more slideshows and/or cooking videos especially of daunting or somewhat challenging recipes, such as the recent Wildcard winning pierogi recipe.

Here are some other ideas that I don't think have been brought up yet: I enjoy many of the new food52 features, but would love to see a baking column (w/slideshow and/or videos) demystifying baking for the home cook. Also will the garden column be returning? I learned so many things about growing food last year that I put to use in my garden. That column was the impetus for me trying to grow seed potatoes this year. Or how about a column about cooking from your CSA box every week?

I would also like to make a pitch for more content about pantry and freezer organization and for making the most efficient use of a small kitchen. Doing kitchen renovations on a small budget would be great to read about.

I realize that it's a fine line balancing curated content with home cook content. However, I would love to see more content about and featuring home cooks on the site. Some of my all-time favorite posts from last year were the big feasts, antoniajames writing about pork belly, hardlikearmour writing about the cookbook Flour Water Salt and Yeast, and fiveandspice writing about yogurt in the Halfway to Dinner column. We have so many talented cooks on the site. I would love to read more work by them and about them!

In addition to the retired feature Cook Spotlight, I really loved how you used to highlight blogs by members. Would you consider doing that again -- perhaps as a weekly feature on feed52? On that note, I would also be interested in having some sort of regular feature updating us on what food52ers are up to, whether it's writing an article about preserving in the NY Times (mrswheelbarrow) or publishing their first cookbook (Jennie Perillo).

I can't resist asking for a few things on the technical side: Is it possible to be able to sort saved posts in collections similar to what you've done with Recipes? And it would be so great if we had the ability to save hotline posts. Lastly, I would love to see more international shipping options on shop items.

Thanks for asking for feedback. Looking forward to continuing to be a part of this site as it evolves and moves forward!

Thanks for asking for feedback. I'd enjoy more middle eastern recipes & features. More how to videos for advanced cooking techniques as opposed to basics like separating eggs and chopping broccoli. A better search tool (that allows you to search the whole site in one go). Features on artisanal products from all over the globe - not just from USA. Even if I can't get my hands on it easily I'll still enjoy hearing about it.

Would love to see a cookbook shop+discussion forum where community members could write reviews, and especially provide details about which recipes within the books are particularly good, but also warnings about unexpected results (failures, unimpressive recipes, etc.) Whenever there's a question or feature about cookbooks on FOOD52, there is always so much spirited discussion. This could be a place not just for new releases, but also for books that have been around for awhile, that people have actually used. Community members could nominate books with a short (100 - 200 word) review that includes discussion on, say, at least three recipes. You could even feature the best of those weekly or bi-weekly. ;o)

I really miss being able to see the conveyor of latest recipes uploaded to the site from the community, not only those of the contributing writers.

more content generally, especially on sparse days

I loved your 1852 movie clip which looked like my girlfriend and me for sure! I want to see how to use all the different greens I get in my CSA box. I'm a confirmed organic, local produce person. Also non GMO!

I would like to echo Ellenl's comment below about searching within saved recipes. Take a look at how Cookstr does this if you want to see the ideal model.

One of my favourite topics on the website are the videos of Amanda and Merrill cooking! Please add more to the website.
Thanks
Bonnie

I love food52. What is frustrating for me is living in Australia where the seasons are opposite to yours in the US for example. Your competitions are usually seasonally based - for very good reason. Mostly I cannot contribute. We are are mid-autumn and it's getting to feel a lot like winter while you are about wax lyrical about the wonder and joy of spring bounty after a long tough winter. Nothing we can do about it but it is frustrating for me a lot of the time.

Love the site but better search functions would make it easier to find what I am looking for. The filters often do not respond to more than one category. Thanks for asking!

I would absolutely love to see culinary expeditions on food52 - writers familiar with little known and little understood cuisines sharing their history and expertise, and most importantly bringing it back to the fact that though we may be different, and our foods different, we have and do use ingredients in very similar manners!

Of course, I offer first hand to share what I know about West African (mostly Nigerian) cooking!

Searching for a recipe, this site came up... That was 4 days ago.. I forgot the recipe and just have been going from page to page..
How enjoyable...*S*

Please make it possible to search our own saved recipes---e.g., soups, lamb, etc.

Hi ladies. You know I love this site and feel very connected to all the great people who have made it a success. Congrats! One thing I have valued is that the space you have created is respectful and open-minded. However, I have often been frustrated that there is a real homogeneity about the content of the site. If your goal is "to make this the best food site in the world" then I would say it would be important to make concerted efforts to diversify not only the content of the site, but the people who work to contribute to it. I look at the food52 team pictures and see very little ethnic or socio-economic diversity. Please consider seeking out contributors who will bring more true 'flavor' to the site from all over the world and across this country. Surely there must be good food writers who represent different ethnicities and experiences (Latin, Indian, Asian, African, Southern...to name just a very few...)? I'm sure that being invited to share their wisdom on this great site would be welcome. I know that many of the readers of food52 would be thrilled to learn about such cuisines, particularly if accompanied by beautiful step by step pictorials and videos to help know how to cook unfamiliar food. Featuring pictures of these diverse folks on the site would also definitely help to make this a site where all folks, regardless of race or other factors, would feel welcome. It would really distinguish your site from so many others...which also suffer from a similar problem. Thanks!

i love the "genius recipe" feature and the unique shop items ("Mom's Stuff" is my favorite find--almost ever!)
And, i'm a teetotaler and would love to see more creative beverage ideas for those of us who do not imbibe.

One more thing: I miss the throwdowns! Any plan to bring them back? It could be Amanda vs. Merrill, but you could also pit other well-known food personalities against each other as a way to mix things up (or chef versus home cook). Piglet has proven that people like mixing food with friendly competition -- and we'd all get more great recipes in the process!

I love Food52, and I'm so happy that you are able to continue to develop it! I would like to see you add 2 sections to the Features list: Contest Winners (in which you list the winner and runner up recipes for each contest) and Wildcards. Wildcards come about once or twice a week and then they are lost forever, and I find myself scrolling through pages and pages trying to find a recipe that was featured and I meant to save. Like Genius Recipes, Jenny's column and the New Veganism (among others), it would be helpful to have all those in one searchable place. Thanks.

I would also love to see more community building like the mozzarella making and canning weekends and potlucks in which we get together with people in our geographic locations.

And I also loved Amanda's dinner parties and Big Feasts. Maybe put out a call for Small Feasts in which we write about our own entertaining?

I love your site! I live in Russia (I am American) and I think it would be useful to have the recipes in metric as well. Another thing I think would be interesting is more about kitchens. Kitchen design, makeovers and just everyday kitchens where all these amazing recipes are made.

First, I love the site. It’s my go-to site for all recipes or menu advice. And, I agree with the search comments while understanding that this thread is not asking for this type of feedback.
Second, I love the Features - I love Genius Recipes, Sunday Dinners, Small Batch (probably by second favorite next to Genius Recipes), Halfway to Dinner, Dinner v Child, etc. They are all so well-done, and I’d hate to see any of those go. For new content, I think you have a contender in “Building a Dream Kitchen”, although it may have a limited audience.
My favorite weeks on Food52 are during the Piglet, and I’m unsure exactly why that is. But, a monthly “cookbook” highlight might be in order. Food52 features a great cookbook, and those who own it could cook from it (favorite recipes of owners), take pictures, post, etc., and maybe F52 could benefit with a discounted price on that cookbook (in the shop) for folks wanting to participate. This might also help with the global / regional call for spotlighting as you could highlight cookbooks that specialize in, say, Asian Dumplings, for example.
Again, I think the site is great. I’m a huge fan, and am excited to see how Food52 grows and changes over the next few years. Cheers!

Many of us are single and primarily cook for ourselves. I really enjoy the process of preparing a wholesome meal for myself yet I don't look forward to defrosting frozen portions because recipes mostly serve four. How about some fresh stuff for smaller portions?

Yes, I agree - to have the ability to save and note take on your absolutely wonderful recipes. Also, videos are helpful - along the lines of Sarah on the Martha Stewart website.

We need the ability to search only the recipes that we've saved. Paging through them to find it is way too slow and sometimes the website is too slow and I get that "sorry, couldn't load that but here's a recipe instead." I also need the ability to store my own notes with each one. I know that's a tall order but, without this, I have to print them and write my notes on the paper copy. For awhile, I tried copying & pasting recipes into Evernote so I could add my comments but that was also a lot of work (and then I have 2 places to look for a recipe, not just one). I LOVE Genius recipes and so many other things here. While I bought the ipad app, I found it so limited compared to what's on the site. For that same reason, I would not consider purchasing the cookbook. I would prefer you all to focus on making the website really fast & stellar!!

I do dinner for 6-10 every Tuesday night (my grown kids and some extras). Coming up with the menu is the hard part. Birthdays and other special occasions give the person of honor the privelege of deciding the menu. But that just makes my life easier. I am always looking for new ideas in all catagories but I would like more make ahead dishes for those weeks when nothing goes right and more complete menu ideas (all need to serve a crowd),

I'd love to be able to contribute...perhaps from a gf point of view( I bake all sorts of great cakes,savoury tarts/sweet tarts, etc. for farmer's markets/shops here in Ireland). If you're going global, I could be your southwestern Ireland link..thanks for being such a great site!!! I've used lots of your recipes this past 2 years...caroline

I agree with featuring the recipe contests more prominently AND with videos on preparing the finalist recipes. I miss those videos! I also miss when Amanda and Merrill cooked with guest chefs. And I miss the slide shows. Those features made the site inviting.I agree with the suggestion to index recipes from the features as well, so that a search can be more efficient and complete. I love this site, but I do not visit as often as I used to. I think I am not feeling as connected as I used to.

I love your place. I'd thank to find appliance cooking recipes. They can help a lot saving time and/or work, mainly pressure cooker and slow cooker, better if made from scratch (not cans and envelopes so that it is healthy everyday family food) We seem to be always running, so anything that helps to save time and effort is WELCOME! Keep up your great job!

My favorite part of the recipes is the comment section, such an inspiration. I have a place on fire island where i entertain or am out with friends and then we come home and cook. I would love to see recipes where incorporate timing and what you can do prepare for pulling things together without too much franticness. Even comments on allotting duties.

How about recipes for vegan sauces? Hate adding store-bought sauces or marinades on my fresh, organic, vegan stir-fry's, etc. Recipes that would allow me to make some in advance and bottle, keep in the frig and use whenever.

I want to see talkies. You know, that modern age stuff. Here is a link to a great site that has quick clips of food fancy from around the world. You guys could travel, or you could co-op the guy who is doing these...
http://www.theperennialplate.com/

cliff

I would like to see nutritional values added to the recipes and suggestions for alternative ingredients for those with dietary restrictions. Also, I tend to sift through recipes to use up ingredients I have, perhaps there is a better way of focusing on this? I love this site and agree with the suggestions about international content/organizing. Congrats again!

This may sound like a strange request, but how about some delicious foods for when someone you love is sick or otherwise challenged? Yesterday my husband had major dental work. It would be great to find a list of soft foods all in one place.

I'd actually like fewer videos. I can't watch them during the day (which is mostly where I browse Food52), and a description of the techniques involved would be more helpful when I'm cooking that night. A few tips on ingredients would be useful too - I'm in a large Midwestern city, but I haven't seen dandelion greens at Whole Foods or the farmers markets, for example.

To me the most disappointing thing about a dish is when it is under seasoned. How about a series on using salt, when is too much (scallops don't need much) and what foods benefit from what might seem like a lot. Same with herbage and spices.

I'd love to see recipes able to be organized (somehow) by theme ie. Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese etc. Keep the tutorials (deboning, homemade pasta dough etc) and contests coming! Love your site

The contests don't seem to be as prominently featured nowadays and I'm sure I'm missing out on some great recipes. The contests were what drew me to the site in the first place and now they're harder to find/follow. The search feature could also use some improvement--in particular, I find it frustrating to have to distinguish between features and recipes. Often I'll think, "I saw a recipe using [x ingredient] on Food52" and a recipe search yields nothing, because, as I eventually figure out, the recipe was part of a feature. Otherwise keep up the good work!

Thanks for asking. I frequently have friends here for dinner and I'm always in search of recipes that can be made ahead. Since we live in a very warm climate, turning the oven on for long, slow braised dishes only works in our short winter. I'd love to have some summer type make ahead recipes.

Love the Food52 approach, but have a two suggestions:
1. Seems to be lots of interest in expanding international content. Please consider allowing metric measures for recipe posting.
2. As for editorial content, my vote goes to opening a conversation on healthy food. I know from my work as a nutrition professional that Food 52's really do have a better shot at eating more healthy just because they can cook, like you say in the Manifesto. There are many pathways out there that will get us to a good place and I would be interested in more dialogue on the subject.

It would be very helpful if the recipes posted could be linked to a caloric and nutritional data calculator. There are many good online calculators and it should not be too difficult to link recipe ingredients to a calculator so that the information is easily accessible for those of us who want to know.

Would love to see you develop a focus on global cooking by region/country with information about ingredients, preparaation, traditional agriculture, and suggestions for how to begin to explore and where needed substitute. Some kind of program like the blogger who has been cooking from around the world for her family each month - would be a great way to engage some, teach others and deliver on the message we are all in this together.

Keep up the great work!

Could we see a Crab Rangoon recipe? Im thinking it would be interesting to do an *american chinese food* contest.

I think it would be great to see more low cost recipes. i would also love to see a section where you show how to take food items around the pantry and church em up ie that can of tomato paste or microwave popcorn or jello. I know I am in the minority here, but I am in the military and we have made an art of out making something from nothing cuz there is nothing more important in my life than food! I love creative cuisine as much as I love high end gourmand kitchen witchery and would love to see more high tastes from low places!

I would like you guys to bring back the videos for recipe contest finalists! I really enjoyed them!

Yes to grandmas. Yes to a pantry feature. Yes to more slide shows. No to features on how hard it is to renovate weekend homes in the Hamptons when you have famous chefs as friends.

Recipe reviews and more recipe testing. I originally found food52 because I was looking for recipes. I love reading food52 columns but I keep finding myself heading over to epicurious for actual recipes because of their source, ratings, and reviews.

Something I miss from the older format of your site is the weekly emails about the recipe contests. That prompted me to check the site more consistently than I do now.

A few things I would love to read about are: menus for camping, especially vegetarian ideas, and summer outdoor cooking ideas, again vegetarian would be more welcome, and summer menus that do not require an air conditioned home to make. Keep up the with the egg recipes! Would love to know your soft boiled technique!
Oh, and more classic tried and true recipes. Thanks for asking!

More highlighting of other cookbooks and blogs--perhaps by testing a number of recipes and posting reviews of them

Also, what first brought me to the site was Amanda's amazing cookbook. It would be great to highlight some of those recipes (like Teddie's Apple Cake was recently as a Genius Recipe), because I'm sure I'm missing a few stellar ones!

I'm seconding a lot of previous suggestions... The search feature really needs to be improved, and it would be great to be able to sort the results by community pick/views/saves, etc. I love the idea of going back to basics - and perhaps some of the genius recipes could reflect perfect, classic dishes. Love the idea of suggested menus, including drinks. It would be fun to expand the Piglet to have "cook through this cookbook" features, with different people cooking different dishes and providing reviews. Expanding the focus to include more international cuisines and readers would be great - as an American who recently moved to Australia, I'm struggling to find some ingredients I took for granted at home (and don't want to pay exorbitant shipping to get here); I'd also like to know what ingredients (golden syrup!) and dishes (lamingtons!) I should be embracing.

love the "grandma's kitchen" idea.... would love to see not just new ways of doing things, but preserving some of the old ways -- "heirloom" ways of cooking that are in danger of being lost (vs. cooking "heirloom" produce in new ways). losing those "heirloom" recipes and ways of cooking may be just as sad as losing "heirloom" foods. i'm not recommending ignoring the new -- but hope not to ignore and lose valuable things from the past.

I have been greatly enjoying the genius recipes, down and dirty, seasonal posts, but I would like to see more drink based recipes even non alcoholic ones.

Thank you all for such wonderful feedback! You never fail us.

I would love to see a resurgence of Eat Your Words - it was a terrific way to start the day on food52. Also, utilize all of the CPS in your features - it seems like the top half of the CPs are featured - certainly not all of them - if they are picked by the community, then reveal them. Food safety is a huge issue and very important for nascent cooks who visit this site to absorb and understand. I think the problem of what to cook with a well stocked pantry has been answered here in dribs and drabs, but an ongoing series would be helpful and tie it all together for those can't navigate the search on this site, which needs refinement. I would like to see a resurgence of the cook's spotlight, and in this vein feature cooks who are known for their contributions to global cuisine as well as regional cuisine. As the site has evolved, it seems that the focus on cooks has narrowed, and the cook's spotlight at least introduced us to a different cook each week. I agree with Liz the Chef that a combination of the "Feast", which may seem overwhelming for many members, and a contest, that many members participate in, would be a good middle ground for a contest.

Speaking as someone who is easily overwhelmed by suddenly having a ton of things to read and watch, I don't know if this really counts as an editorial content suggestion, but one thing that's really nice is when the amount of new content is kind of balanced from day to day. I feel like some days only a couple of new things go up and on other days there's such a barrage that I miss half of it (or maybe this is all perception and has to do with how busy I am on a given day). So, that's kind of an editorial calendar planning thing, I guess, which I know you already do. But, especially as you have more and more columns and features on the site, I think it would be nice to stay really cognizant of balance. I guess one of the main things I'm thinking about is, I don't look through the submissions to contests and think about them and comment on them very much any more because any time that I have in a day to spend on Food52 goes to reading the columns. Which is not to say I don't love having lots of columns. I just like having cake and eating it too, apparently.

I especially like the big events and short-term series that make me want to check the site first thing in the morning--like the Piglet or the Big Feast series. I'd like to see more of them, particularly those that give FOOD52ers voices.

As others have said, I'd like better recognition of our global community--we aren't all in the US, and we're not all on Eastern Standard time. We have a great opportunity to learn some new things from each other.

And again, as others have said, a column on food safety would be a great idea. I've noticed so many recurring themes on the Hotline about shelf lives and holding times.

Most of all, I'd like the site to continue to act small even though it's getting big. Don't lose your (our) spontaneous humor and willingness to change things up.

It would be fun for me, a food52 "veteran", to have more sophisticated contests, although that's lots more work on your part. "Your most spectacular dinner party for 2" - what did you cook, how did you set the table, important tips, etc"..."The best picnic you ever planned and executed - how to eat on the grass (or not), to grill (or not), etc." Many of us love to shoot our food and this would expand the horizons of the site. Visual, visual, visual...And for me, it's practice, practice, practice. Embrace the idea of the video submission as well.

More global focus and clear cut sections thereof, Also, the holidays tab in the recipes is restricted to the American events and it becomes unclear how to tag a recipe to those particular holidays. More science regarding food, including traditional recipes that are prescribed in traditional healing...
Food traditions from other cultures and other parts of the world..

Turkish food! International shipping in the shop, too.

Hi. My husband is Slovak and craves his grandmother's cooking. She was a "simple" cook and did everything from experience. All the recipes we find are either much fancier than her dishes or have been updated to modern tastes. Would love to see classic basics - noodles, perogies, etc.

Droplet's suggestion about grandmothers' kitchens is brilliant! I also love AntoniaJames's idea of a Pantry Dinner column. Also, I'm a certified ServSafe instructor, and would love to write a (monthly?) safe food feature for you ;0)

For starters, I'd love to see more recipes reviewed honestly and photographed. As a matter of fact, I'd love to see a review tab, alongside the comments and question tab, for food52 users to sahre their feedback on recipes. I love the interviews with food personalities. I think videos of these would be great too. More Amanda and Merrill columns. I'd also love to see a column that looked at hot topics in food, including science where pertinent. This could range from the latest diet trend to the debate over gmo's, the soda tax, etc. Love the more menus idea mentioned below as well.

Menu ideas! Want to know how to pull things together having enough food, textures, colors etc. to keep things interesting.

I'm loving the features by other bloggers (like Homemade Cadbury Cream Eggs!), and Jenny's in the Kitchen has always been one of my faves--I love that she resurfaces old or hidden Food 52 member recipes. Someone mentioned regional recipes/features below, and I think would be awesome (sort of travel-blog-esque)! Maybe focus on a new state/region/country in each article, places to visit, what the food scene is there, potentially feature a new recipe from the region, and perhaps pull together a menu of existing F52 recipes that represent the region.

I'd love to see more about sources for hard-to-find ingredients. For example, I'm from a northern state that produced wonderful sour cherries but I now live in the south. So where can I go for sour cherries in season?

I think something on how to plan vegetarian menus. I find it hard to pick a vegetarian menu for a dinner party sometimes unless the main dish is a risotto or lasagna or something. I don't feel confident with a mezze approach (more small plates).

To me one of the greatest features of Food52 are the pictorials. It gives a great extra dimension and value to a recipe. I would love an extra feature of some sort that would involve pictorial visits to "grandma's" kitchens...elderly ladies' cooking wisdom is priceless. Though that would certainly require extra resources and might not be financialy feasible at this point in time.

Also: I subscribe to Food52 on RSS but I find only some articles come through that way... Like today's headline articles (this one for example, and the dream kitchens) didn't come through on RSS. Clearing that up would be great.

More Amanda Hesser essays... like a weekly Amanda Hesser essay would be the best thing ever.

Would love to see a "Pantry Dinners" column. (Do I ever need it. I suspect I'm not the only one. Yikes.) Perhaps alternate actual meals with items to make to keep one's pantry well stocked, to make those pantry dinners even more delicious. Perhaps solicit ideas for both, as you do with the Genius recipes. Or at least have a contest, to flush out everyone's go-to couldn't-go-shopping/panic/late conference call evening meals. ;o)

I agree with much of Emily C's post, and would love to see a regular feature on the art of planning a menu for all kinds of occasions, fancy, formal, casual, holiday etc. I spend hours on this with my arsenal of cookbooks and online resources, and while iI enjoy it, am often frustrated in finding the perfect balance of creativity, deliciousness, and labor intensity.

I love the egg articles! I love reading articles about how to make things great but that have simple, basic ingredients. I like reading about cooking methods. I want to know how to make the perfect egg, chicken breast, steak, salmon, whatever. I'm not particularly interested in cocktails or desserts, although I like the occasional unique recipes for these things. There are lots of places to go on the web though that focus on sweets but I'd rather learn about cooking other things!

Definitely more how-to videos - they are great! I often have people tell me that they shy away from cooking certain items because they just don't know the basic techniques! For example - a video showing how to properly sear a duck breast, scoring the skin, etc. maybe this could be based on some relevant data collected at the site? For example - a particular recipe is a winner or cp that gets lots of views but not a lot of saves or revisits?

I'd love to see some localized (regional?) content. I remember reading about a partnership with Real Time Farms but was not sure how that might roll out with Food52. This would be relevant for gardening/sourcing/trends/etc. but could also be used to connect Food52 community members. I had posted that google map for Food52 members a while back but I think it got buried in the hotline...that is more a web feature, but more visibility on where the community is coming from could also fuel content.

More Genuius recipes/Community pick recipe/Contest Winner recipes. I like coming to Food52 and being able to quickly scan a host of recipes that I know have been vetted and deemed excellent.

At the top of my wish list is a new feature on entertaining – everything from dinner parties (both casual and formal) to b’day parties, open houses, game days, brunches, and holidays. Not just individual recipe ideas – but full menus and game plans – that are located in one central place and easily accessible. (I really loved Amanda’s Friday Night Dinner Party feature!) And then it’d be really cool to have a community space associated with each post (e.g., spring dinner parties) where people can share their own ideas and menus. My sense is that fewer and fewer people are entertaining, in large part because it seems intimidating and overwhelming, and FOOD52 could so easily be that little extra nudge and boost of confidence for people to share more meals together.

I'd love to see an essay on restraint, and the joy of reserving, for special occasions, what used to be special foods. (thirshfeld touched on it in his last essay. Thank you, Tom.) It would be a pleasant change from the more pervasive indulgence theme. Also, informed sources (Tim Lang, a resource economist at City University London, for example) suggest that this will actually become a necessity in years to come. (I'm happy to send you citations if you want.) So I suppose another article I'd really like to see -- though I expect you'd want an outside contributor on this, given the type of research necessary -- would address what "sustainability" in food choices really means. (Did you know that it would take five planet Earths to feed all of the people on this Earth, if they ate like Americans, and three, if they ate like the English?) ;o)

I liked the eat your words features. I also enjoy the genius recipes. More wildcard recipes too please!

I second AntoniaJames. Better Serach. My primary reason for using the site is for the recipes. I find it tedious when searching based on an ingredient. There has got to be a more refined way of searching through the recipes. I also very much enjoy Amanda and Merrill's food preparation slide shows. Perhaps you could accept slideshows from contributors.

I second Antonia in the better search options, more in depth ethnic recipes, and the ability to add to a feedly subscription. Also the ability for people to connect one on one/groups in their areas without having to message individually or search through recipe comments. Can we bring back the local gatherings, too? Sorry, this ended up being a lot.

I've been fascinated with the grain-free movement. . . I've seen grain-free banana muffins made with almond butter, eggs and bananas. I've also seen a cauliflower pizza crust! Can Food52 weigh in on the grain-free movement and offer some delicious recipes that are both yummy and surprisingly grain-free?

My wish list?
1. Better search. The recipe database deserves it. Functionality was actually lost at about the same time you added the "collections" feature.

2. A superb copy editor. I'm hoping that the old-school (very high standards) Bertelsmann approach will make itself known here soon.

3. A FOOD52 branded toolbar or search bar - total win-win for FOOD52 and the community. You get extra revenue from all of our search activity, while we get multiple direct lines into our favorite areas of the site. (Ask for the customizable widget feature, please.) Not sure whether you can find revenue opportunities for analytics, but if I were your advisers, I'd certainly be interested in this. You ad people are no doubt mining like crazy, but the toolbar/search bar would open that up immeasurably.

I'm sure I'll think of a few other things, so I'll be back. Are you interested in aspects of the site we'd like to see changed? ;o)

I'd really love to see some recipes for yeast-free bread. What alternative agents are there to help breads and doughs rise without yeast? I've seen leavening occur with the use of lemon juice and baking soda. I've also seen Julia Child's sourdough starter made without yeast. . . Can Food52 find additional yeast-free bread options?

Love Erica's Booze52; perhaps add some interactive features to it?

I would love more gluten-free features, maybe an regular column. I've been a part of Food52 since my pre-Celiac days, and now I would love to see what experienced gluten-free gourmets and gourmands are cooking, eating, and sharing.

I'd love to learn more about simple home cooking recipes from different cuisines. Also, more cooking videos please!