Hi, haven't been entering contests or testing recently because of life events and hope to restart soon. Trying to think up a recipe is so interesting to me-- researching cookbooks and the internet, dreaming about something like radishes that I had never really thought about before... reading what other people come up with, testing a recipe, looking at comments. It's so unusual to me, as a pre computer person, to be able to contribute a recipe that other people look at and try without being a professional writer or cook. I DO like the "editor's pick" as more descriptive than community pick. And I have observed that there is some strategy around some people's entries, numbers of views, comments. It's hard to integrate all of that into selection. Finally, I luv reading Pierino's head notes, recipes, recipe titles and comments-- no lack of color there!! Hope you carry on, CF!
Most of the 52er friends who first introduced me to the recipe contests- have left 52 or stopped entering the contests. They all complained that the staff doing the bulk of the 'picking' were "20 somethings and/or cooking newbies w/o the necessary years of experience needed to make respectable judgements." They were also very disappointed in the seeming 52 staff aversion to the lesser known cuisines of the world.
I have been on both sides of the seesaw, but i am still contributing . I feel lucky for the inspiring ideas that i do see here (and hope that i have given some in return.)
And as for the P. He was raving and raving about Lucky Peach--I had no idea. So I ordered from Amazon 2 and 4 sight unseen, so hubby could bring back from a business trip. Say what? Culture shock! This is a cooking magazine?
?((O?O))?!!
Culture shock!
But reading through it I became a fan, this is fresh, new and stimulating! Hats off to Pierino. Educating us old dogs that still want to learn new tricks!
Welcome CF. I noticed you posted another recipe so I hope you hang around. Food52 is definitely addicting!
But this is difficult. I am a prize and award winning recipe creator so I know my recipes are great. But I have yet to be selected for a CP or EP whatever. Thanks to Susan G reminding us that Nora was 'overlook' is why I've kept contributing. But at 35 recipes, my family has called a Stop Out.
At first I thought my recipes weren't chosen because I don't twitter, facebook, or have a homepage, which I started but since all the local ladies still wanted me to print the recipes out for them I didn't develop so much.
I have extreme respect for A and M, But since I've been probably been cooking longer than their mothers have, I have to decide if I want to keep donating recipes.
I had a bad period this summer when I saw a very original recipe of mine uploaded on someone else's homepage with no credit to me or food52. My photo too.
But I have learned so much from this site, and gained many new flavors and friends, that I can't quit.
I hear you Bouldergalintokyo..I can't emphasize how valuable this site has been in terms of discovering new friends and learning from them, and some of the fabulous series like down & dirty that I don't seem to care too much about the contests that much any more..
One of the reasons I love Food52 -a question for clarity eliciting so many points of view and a lot of respectful dialogue. This site is definitely worth spending time on. Thank you, CF. Hope you stay around. I love Pierino's answers and his questions and have learned a lot from him in the past couple of years. And he does have a way of being a b...head at times and stirring the pot.
I think some of us really appreciate that the editors, who are trusted experts, can give their seal of approval on certain recipes. While I love that recipes are pooled form the community and many great cooks and experts in their own right, its not possible to know where every recipe comes from. Cooking for most of us is an investment in time and money. Knowing someone you trust tested a recipe has great value in that respect. And as long as the community is involved, I have no problem with it being called a community pick, though I agree that editors pick may be a better title.
creamtea, I have to laugh with you, not at you. I submitted a recipe today and had to edit it 6 times! I kept making a typo on the name of the main ingredient. Oh well....
Dear Editors, A light bulb just turned on in my head, re: CP vs EP. The site has a feature called "views," aren't the view numbers generated by the community? If so then couldn't this feature (view) tie into what recipes the community is interested in? Couldn't that help to be a base for the CPlist of recipes to be tested & reviewed? I am sure programming could give some help with that? Just a thought. TGIF!
Lapadia, the problem with using "views" is that some of the recipes are a year or more old, so the view count will already be higher for them. About a month back I had an unexpected wildcard winner for a recipe I submitted three years ago and which one of the editors pulled out of the slush pile. All of the wildcards not necessarily pulled from the CP's. So using views would tip the scale toward older recipes.
Oh Pierino I thought of that, but...this is where the magic of computer programming comes in. IMO there could be endless opportunities for a programmer or two that have the time to devote. Would be a fun job for those who are in the "programming know."
(blushes) I look at mine a lot. I sometimes have to do a lot of edits ... I check for number Comments (don't get emails) and Views... so that effects the no. of views registered too
But even if you narrow the time frame to the contest window you still have a two week spread of "views". A recipe submitted just under deadline might have only one view.
Well then Bevi, my confusion comes in here "I submitted a recipe in one contest, but if my recipe is not judged by the community from the very beginning to the end, I don't think I will ever participate again! " What else can that mean? The community comes in at three stages: writing recipes,testing recipes and voting on recipes. How much more participation is needed?
You took the words out my mouth Mrs Larkin..Yep CF's been acquainted with pierino!.. CF, thanks for initiating a wonderful discussion here & welcome to our Food52 world!
I would like to thank you all for your valuable replies and thoughts on the matter. I appreciate your time and your considerations on the matter. To the dear fellow pierino I would like to say that of course you are not implementing Athenian democracy my dear, not even close, but since the editors are speaking about good old democracy, I think this should be served. I really don't understand the sarcasm and the hidden contempt to a civilization that has offered its light and discoveries to the modern world. I feel sorry if what I said bothered you in any way, but where I come from, I have learned to speak up my mind with respect and honesty. If those qualities annoy you, well, what can I say, since we live in a world where Athenian democracy is applied you have to respect my opinion just like I respect yours.
Actually to be technically correct we don't live in Athenian Democracy. We live in a Republic like Plato's idea. Think of the editors as your elected represenatives. As you are new to this site, what two weeks?, you might wish to spend some time learning the process. I have no contempt for Greek culture but it is a matter of fact that we don't in direct democracy with everybody in a town hall. What I've trying to do is give you advice on the why's and wherefore's of editing a publication---and this is a publication. It's simply unreasonable to expect that "the whole community" which numbers in thousands would come together every two weeks and suggest whose recipes go onto be tested.
Hi all -- just wanted you to know we hear you. We think the current Community Pick system is one step closer to having more great, reliable, community-reviewed recipes highlighted on the site than the 1.0 version was, but we're taking all your feedback into account. The current system isn't likely to be our final community testing system -- we'll keep working to improve it.
This may be relevant -- when Nora Ephron died, it was revealed that she was a secret contributor to food52. About a recipe of hers: was intensely annoyed that it wasn't named a finalist or even a community pick in the chili contest. It's tough love here at FOOD52.
My eyebrows are raised over the 'revealed that she was a secret contributor'. since most 52ers do not go by their real names, i would not use the rather romantic or alarmist term 'secret'.
And/or maybe i'm sensitive to the hyperbole we all swim in when we encounter the media in our world (and it bothers me.)
There has been some controversy regarding the use of testers' reviews. This thread attempts to delve into the issue: http://food52.com/blog/5908-community-picks-noodle-soups
This issue is the actual use or non-use of a community member's favorable review to determine a CP (EP tested by a community member).
thats true creamtea, but I think I preferred the part where Food52 picked their own set to test in addition, here they test some of the listed along with the community and one is always left with the question wondering if their decision over a recipe overrides the opinion of the tester.
Previously, they would put out a list of recipes selected as Editors pick candidates and there would be a mad rush to lay dibs on the recipes (they'd be all claimed within an hour of posting). Food52 would then test some more recipes from their end, and a week later, they wd add their picks along with 2 finalists, and the community tested picks wd also be listed. With the new system, it seems like a chunk of the recipes aren't even being claimed for community testing.
true, but now it's nice to have more than one tester. In the past a tester could claim a recipe but unexpected scheduling conflicts might interfere with that commitment.
All the more reason to make your recipe interesting to test, from the name through the headnotes. If you saw a recipe with the title "Doughnut" would you want to test it?
Well, I couldn't agree more with all of you! Either it is a community contest or it is not. These intermediate things with recipes that are chosen without clear cut criteria and rules are so subjective. I am not suggesting that anyone has ulterior motives in choosing a particular recipe over another, but this procedure certainly leaves room to a lot of speculation! And most of all it is not just to all the contestants!
Back to editing. Unfortunately we are not an Athenian democracy where we all sit around all day reading every single recipe in the contests. Editorial is a necessary filter. I worked in the book publishing industry and it works the same way, tons of stuff is submitted but only a small percentage actually get published. In fact, the percentage of community picks at Food52 to total submissions is ten times greater than moves through publishing houses. I can't read every recipe. And in fact if I'm entered in a contest I won't read any. Because first, it's a jinx and second because I don't want to be influenced by what anyone else is doing. That said, you have to convey what makes your recipe different. To get noticed make the recipe more interesting than simply something of the same genre.
And to confuse matters -- that is, confuse me -- there is another meaning to "Community Pick." Recipes from Amanda and Merrill, Genius recipes and other recipes from the editorial/article side are labelled 'community pick,' which seems to muddy the entire term. The short list for the contests are opened to 'community' (that's 'us') input, but the others are just titled by fiat. What's up?
I think a more appropriate name for a Community Pick is "Editor's Pick", as they were called previously. "Community Pick" does seem to be a misnomer if those recipes nominated are indeed selected by the editors.
Please remember that this is an editorial process for a publication; a publication which won a Beard award last year. I give the editors credit for narrowing it down---it's impossible to test every single recipe each week. If you put up 120 recipes for testing at most 10 would actually tested. I think Communnity Pick is still valid before the finalists are selected by the commmunity as a whole.
Here's another thought on the editorial process; head notes matter. So before you go off and sulk consider that component to be as important as your recipe.
Dear Pierino, Please, watch your words, nobody is “sulking.” A valid question was originally asked, which in turn, opened up a valid and heartfelt conversation; a subject matter that has been asked and talked about by our fellow Food52 peers many times over…let’s give some respect for all opinions and thoughts. Thank you.
Excuse me lapadia, but I was offering sound advice on the editorial process. The person who posed the question did however say, but if my recipe is not judged by the community from the very beginning to the end, I don't think I will ever participate again" Sulk?
Hmmm, well Pierino, CF has only been a member of Food52 for a couple weeks so I totally read it as a cook who was adapting to the site. But anyway, I respect your thoughts and thanks for your time taken to answer back. Cheers!
Thank you very much for your reply hardlikearmour. It seems to me that it is not a very community oriented procedure. I submitted a recipe in one contest, but if my recipe is not judged by the community from the very beginning to the end, I don't think I will ever participate again! Thanks again for clarifying it to me!
Please keep submitting! I love perusing all the recipes, and try many of them. There are tons of gems that aren't winners or Community Picks, but I love having all the recipes 'at the ready' when I do a search.
They did a video of the contest process about a year and a half ago. When the contest closes they divide up the recipes to read through. Then they chose the recipes that interest them, and everyone who's helping to chose recipes votes on them. They pick the ones that get the most votes, and put them up for testing. If you'd like to watch the video: http://food52.com/blog/2734-behind-the-scenes-of-food52-s-recipe-contests
Yes Mrs. Larkin, I was puzzled myself. In the recent contest there were over 100 submissions but only 20 were picked up and I was wondering on which criteria! Perhaps indeed the editors of this site can answer this question or anybody else who knows that.
Ah, I thought that might be what you were asking. A lot of cooks have that same question, myself included. As far as I know, there has never been a clear answer. I wonder if the editors could shed some light on this subject?
Hi CF. Do you mean how do you go about testing one of the community pick candidates? If so, when the candidates are announced, there is a "test this recipe" button you can click on the recipe's page.
Here's the specific wording from the most recent CP Recipe Testing page:
"When you’ve figured out which recipes are calling your name, in order to sign up, all you have to do is follow the link to that recipe’s page, and on the left-hand side, you’ll see a “Test This Recipe” button. Your job is easy: just click the button, and you’ll receive a confirmation email that officially crowns you a Food52 community tester. If for some reason you decide you cannot test, simply press the button again, and your name will be removed from the list. Act fast -- this button will disappear on the Tuesday before your testing notes are due."
59 Comments
I have been on both sides of the seesaw, but i am still contributing . I feel lucky for the inspiring ideas that i do see here (and hope that i have given some in return.)
?((O?O))?!!
Culture shock!
But reading through it I became a fan, this is fresh, new and stimulating! Hats off to Pierino. Educating us old dogs that still want to learn new tricks!
But this is difficult. I am a prize and award winning recipe creator so I know my recipes are great. But I have yet to be selected for a CP or EP whatever. Thanks to Susan G reminding us that Nora was 'overlook' is why I've kept contributing. But at 35 recipes, my family has called a Stop Out.
At first I thought my recipes weren't chosen because I don't twitter, facebook, or have a homepage, which I started but since all the local ladies still wanted me to print the recipes out for them I didn't develop so much.
I have extreme respect for A and M, But since I've been probably been cooking longer than their mothers have, I have to decide if I want to keep donating recipes.
I had a bad period this summer when I saw a very original recipe of mine uploaded on someone else's homepage with no credit to me or food52. My photo too.
But I have learned so much from this site, and gained many new flavors and friends, that I can't quit.
I hope you stick around. It's fun here!
And/or maybe i'm sensitive to the hyperbole we all swim in when we encounter the media in our world (and it bothers me.)
This issue is the actual use or non-use of a community member's favorable review to determine a CP (EP tested by a community member).
Voted the Best Reply!
Here's the specific wording from the most recent CP Recipe Testing page:
"When you’ve figured out which recipes are calling your name, in order to sign up, all you have to do is follow the link to that recipe’s page, and on the left-hand side, you’ll see a “Test This Recipe” button. Your job is easy: just click the button, and you’ll receive a confirmation email that officially crowns you a Food52 community tester. If for some reason you decide you cannot test, simply press the button again, and your name will be removed from the list. Act fast -- this button will disappear on the Tuesday before your testing notes are due."