What Cooks Needs from Multimedia and Textually Enhanced Recipes

Abstract

Using recipes in a step-by-step format with multimedia enhancements has been found to increase confidence and enjoyment of cooking but the field lacks research with cooks on the problems they encounter, so it is unclear what granularity of recipe step and associated multimedia would best support them. The current study observed 16 cooks prepare 3 dishes using recipes in 3 different formats to understand what problems cooks have with recipes. Recipe format had a significant effect on the ratings given to the recipe for clarity and ease of use but not on time to complete the recipe. Analysis of cooking activity and cooks' feedback shows that cooks want (i) step-by-step recipes with ingredient quantities in the recipe step, (ii) pictures of the interim states of the recipe, (iii) videos of preparation of unfamiliar ingredients, and (iv) videos of preparation techniques with different types of utensils.