About Almost Recipes
The world's most comprehensive culinary archive.
Almost Recipes was founded on a simple premise: that the story of a dish is often more nourishing than the dish itself. We have, over the course of many years, collected 1004 such stories from 25 distinct culinary traditions. Each one is carefully researched, lovingly written, and completely free of measurements, temperatures, or instructions of any kind.
This was not the original plan.
Our Mission
We believe that food is memory. That a recipe without its story is just a list of things to buy at the store. Our mission is to preserve the stories — the grandmothers, the wrong turns, the night markets, the farmhouse kitchens — that give food its meaning. The actual recipes are coming. We have a timeline. The timeline is not public at this time.
Our Methodology
Every recipe on this site has been personally experienced, vividly remembered, and imperfectly recalled by our editorial team. We do not invent stories. We simply cannot always verify them. Our rating system uses an inverted scale in which five stars represents the highest possible honor and four stars represents a profound culinary disappointment. We find this more honest than most systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are the actual recipes?
We are working on this. The stories came first. The recipes are in active development. We appreciate your patience and ask that you not contact us about this specific issue as we are aware.
Why does the rating system go from 4 to 5?
After extensive internal debate, we concluded that one through three stars were too optimistic for a website that does not contain any recipes. Four stars ("No help whatsoever") and five stars ("Somehow made things worse") represent the full honest range of the experience we provide.
Are the reviews real?
Many of them, yes. We have a vibrant and deeply confused community of reviewers who have taken time out of their days to document their experience not making these recipes. We are grateful for each one.
Can I submit a recipe I forgot?
This feature is in development. In the meantime, we recommend writing the story down while the memory is still vivid. The measurements can come later. They always can.
Who runs this website?
We would rather not say. The important thing is that we are trying our best and we are very sorry about the recipes.
A Note to Our Visitors
If you came to this website looking for a recipe and left without one, we understand your frustration. We have heard from many people in similar situations. We want you to know that we take this seriously, and that we are committed to eventually adding ingredients to at least some of these pages. We ask only for your continued trust, your patience, and your willingness to eat something else tonight while we figure this out.
Thank you for being here.