Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! All recipes, filters, and the shopping list feature are completely free. No account required, no hidden paywalls.

It started with grocery shopping. While cooking for Instagram, I noticed that buying ingredients for a single dish often meant visiting several stores. And when I started another dish, I had to go back to the same stores all over again. I wanted a tool where I could add multiple dishes to a single shopping list and buy everything in one go. That idea turned into United by Taste — a recipe blog that doubles as a practical cooking planner.

Good question — and I want to be upfront about it. The site includes dishes I have not yet cooked myself. I add them so I can plan my shopping list ahead of time. To create these recipes, I ask AI to find the five best versions of a dish, identify the non-negotiable ingredients, and combine them into one balanced recipe. For example, if three out of five recipes say carrots are essential, carrots go in. If only one suggests coriander as a garnish, it gets added as optional. If one recipe swaps beef for chicken but the majority use beef, we go with beef. The result is a well-researched consensus recipe — not a random generation.

Every single one. No recipe goes live without me reviewing it personally. I check the credited sources, go through every ingredient and cooking step, and adjust anything that does not look right. The first time I cook a dish, I follow this recipe myself. So while I may not be an expert on every cuisine, I do the same research I would without AI — the difference is that AI handles the initial legwork, and I do the quality control.

It saves a lot of time. Most ingredients are already filled in, an AI-generated preview image is created as a placeholder, and I get credited links I can use for deeper research. Plus, I need the recipe on the site before I cook it — that is the whole point. I want to use my own shopping list tool to plan my grocery runs. Once I cook the dish, the AI image gets replaced with my own photo, and I add a personal blog entry with my experience.

A few ways. In the recipe filters, there is a "Cooked" toggle that shows only dishes I have made myself. You can also check the author — if it says "Wai", I have cooked it. And if a recipe has a blog entry, that means I have been in the kitchen with it. In those blog entries I share the variations I tried, what worked, what surprised me, and my honest experience cooking the dish. I also leave a rating every time I cook something.

Every recipe starts with an AI-generated preview image as a placeholder. Once I cook the dish, I replace it with a real photo taken in my kitchen. Think of the AI images as a "coming soon" sign — they give you a visual idea of the dish, but the real thing is on its way.

I know how that looks! But I promise every rating is honest. The thing is, if I cook a dish and it turns out badly, I usually do not publish a review for it — just like most food creators only share their successes. The many attempts it takes to get a dish right are rarely shown. That said, if I fail at a recipe, I might still write a blog entry about what went wrong. And the behind-the-scenes kitchen disasters? Those might show up in my Instagram stories.

Absolutely. On every recipe page you will find a portion adjuster next to the ingredients. All quantities update automatically when you change the serving count.

Add recipes to your shopping list from any recipe page. The list aggregates and deduplicates ingredients across all selected recipes, scaling quantities by your chosen portions. Your list is saved locally in your browser — no account needed.

Pantry Mode lets you enter ingredients you already have at home. Recipes are then sorted by how many missing ingredients you still need to buy, helping you cook with what is already on hand.

You are welcome! Instead of making you scroll past paragraphs of backstory to reach the actual recipe, I designed the page so the recipe is directly accessible. Yes, I sacrificed some SEO best practices for that — but I built this site as a tool for myself first, and I find it much more pleasant to use this way. I hope you do too.

I am 100% a home cook! My father was a professional chef and my mum is a passionate home cook, but I have to admit I inherited more of their appetite than their skills. I am sharing my journey of cooking dishes from around the world, learning as I go, and hopefully improving with every recipe. If I can get even a few of you to try a dish you have never made before, that is a win.

There is no fixed schedule. New recipes land whenever I discover a dish that excites me, or when I need to plan my next grocery run. I usually share the cooking process on Instagram first, so follow along there if you want to see what is coming next.

Not yet, but community submissions are something I would love to add in the future. In the meantime, feel free to send your favourites via the contact page — I am always looking for inspiration!

Running United by Taste comes with real costs — video editing software, AI services, hosting, domain fees, and more. While I am happy to spend money on a passion project, I am also passionate about not losing money on it. Ideally, the ads cover enough to keep the lights on and maybe buy the ingredients for the next recipe. I promise to keep them as unobtrusive as possible — no pop-ups, no autoplay videos, no full-screen takeovers.

Honestly, the best support is just following along and interacting — leaving a rating, sharing a recipe with a friend, or saying hi on Instagram. That kind of engagement means more than you might think. If you would like to go the extra mile and buy me a meal, you can donate any time. Let me know what you are buying and I will cook it! (Donation link coming soon.)

Absolutely — it is a dream of most content creator to work with exciting food brands or cook alongside other content creators. But collaboration does not have to be formal. If you know me personally and want to cook together some time, just reach out. Cooking is fun on its own, but cooking with other people is where the real magic happens. Drop me a message via the contact page and let us figure something out.

Please reach out through the contact page. I appreciate corrections and update recipes as quickly as possible.

Your shopping list and preferences are stored locally in your browser — we do not have access to them, and they do not sync across devices. If you submit a rating or contact us, we collect only the information you provide (such as your name and email). We do not use tracking cookies and we do not sell your data. The site uses third-party services like Supabase and Google Fonts, which may process data according to their own policies. For the full picture, see the privacy policy.