This floored me (from an e-mail)
> Cookbooks are a lot like Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games.
> They contain seemingly rigid rules that, in practice, require a certain
> amount of adaptation for your own tastes.
>
> So how come cooking gets its own TV channel and role-playing games don't
> even get a show on G4? Maybe the population at large doesn't want to pretend
> to be a half-elf. Maybe RPGs take more imagination than most people have.
>
> However, it just might have something to do with the role-playing community.
> If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the
> results would not be pretty:
>
> *Posted: 12:15 a.m. by LordOrcus* I'm so mad that there's a new edition of The
> Better Joy Cookbook out. Thanks for making my old copy obsolete, you greedy
> hacks! For five years now, my friends have been coming over for my eggplant
> Parmesan, and now I'm never going to be able serve it again unless I shell
> out 35 bucks for the latest version.
>
> *Posted: 12:42 a.m. by Kathraxis* Hey, I have a question! When you preheat
> the oven, can you start it before you measure out the ingredients, or do you
> have to do it afterward? Please answer quickly, my friends and I have been
> arguing about it for four hours and we're getting pretty hungry.
>
> *Posted: 12:48 a.m. by Goku1440* I found an *awesome loophole*! On page 242
> it says "Add oregano to taste!" It doesn't say how much oregano, or what
> sort of taste! You can add as much oregano as you want! I'm going to make my
> friends eat *infinite oregano* and they'll have to do it because the recipe
> says so!
>
> *Posted: 1:02 a.m. by barrybarrybarry* I can't believe I spent 35 dollars on
> a cookbook that doesn't have a recipe for peanut butter and jelly
> sandwiches. When I buy a cookbook, I expect it to *tell me how to cook*. And
> don't tell me to just make a PBJ myself, I'm not some sort of hippy artist
> pretentious "freeform cook."
>
> *Posted: 1:08 a.m. by jvmkanelly* Where are the recipes for chatting with
> friends while cooking? Where are the recipes for conversation over the meal?
> When I throw a dinner party, I want it to be a PARTY. I guess the idiots who
> use the Better Joy Cookbook just cook and eat in stony silence, never saying
> a word or even looking each other in the eye.
>
> *Posted: 1:23 a.m. by LordOrcus* Hey, guess what? They're coming out with The
> Better Joy Book of Hors D'oeuvres. It just goes to show that the publishers
> are a bunch of corporate greedheads who care more about money than they do
> about cooking. Is it too much to ask for a single cookbook that contains all
> possible recipes?
>
> *Posted: 1:48 a.m. by specsheet* Hey, everyone. I can tell just by reading
> the recipe that if you prepare eggs benedict as written, the sauce will
> separate. My mom always said the other kids made fun of me because they were
> jealous of my intelligence, so I must be right. Everyone who's saying that
> they followed the recipe and it came out perfect is either lying, or loves
> greasy separated hollandaise sauce.
>
> *Posted: 1:52 a.m. by IAmEd* As I have pointed out MANY TIMES, several of
> these recipes contain raisins, and I, like most people, am ALLERGIC to
> raisins! And before you tell me to substitute dried cranberries, I will
> reiterate that I am discussing the recipes AS WRITTEN. I do not appreciate
> your ATTACKING ME with helpful suggestions!
>
> *Posted: 2:12 a.m. by Herodotus* I just have to laugh at the recipe for Beef
> Wellington. In Wellington's day, ovens didn't have temperature settings! And
> pate de foie gras *certainly* didn't come in cans. It's like the authors
> didn't even *care* about replicating authentic early 19th century cooking
> techniques!
>
> *Posted: 2:17 a.m. by LordOrcus* I have read the new Better Joy Cookbook and
> I am devastated to my very core. Their macaroni and cheese recipe, the very
> macaroni and cheese I've been making since I was in college, has been
> ravaged and disfigured and left bleeding on the page. Where once it
> contained only cheddar cheese, now the recipe calls for a mix of cheddar and
> Colby. It may contain macaroni, and it may contain cheese, but it is
> *not*macaroni and cheese. This is a slap in the face and a knife in
> the gut. You
> have lost me, Better Joy Cookbook. I would bid you goodbye, but I wish you
> nothing but the pain and rage you have delivered unto me.
>
> - - -
>
> *Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg
> eventually overcame these handicaps to go by the Secret Service code name
> "Infinite Oregano."*
> They contain seemingly rigid rules that, in practice, require a certain
> amount of adaptation for your own tastes.
>
> So how come cooking gets its own TV channel and role-playing games don't
> even get a show on G4? Maybe the population at large doesn't want to pretend
> to be a half-elf. Maybe RPGs take more imagination than most people have.
>
> However, it just might have something to do with the role-playing community.
> If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the
> results would not be pretty:
>
> *Posted: 12:15 a.m. by LordOrcus* I'm so mad that there's a new edition of The
> Better Joy Cookbook out. Thanks for making my old copy obsolete, you greedy
> hacks! For five years now, my friends have been coming over for my eggplant
> Parmesan, and now I'm never going to be able serve it again unless I shell
> out 35 bucks for the latest version.
>
> *Posted: 12:42 a.m. by Kathraxis* Hey, I have a question! When you preheat
> the oven, can you start it before you measure out the ingredients, or do you
> have to do it afterward? Please answer quickly, my friends and I have been
> arguing about it for four hours and we're getting pretty hungry.
>
> *Posted: 12:48 a.m. by Goku1440* I found an *awesome loophole*! On page 242
> it says "Add oregano to taste!" It doesn't say how much oregano, or what
> sort of taste! You can add as much oregano as you want! I'm going to make my
> friends eat *infinite oregano* and they'll have to do it because the recipe
> says so!
>
> *Posted: 1:02 a.m. by barrybarrybarry* I can't believe I spent 35 dollars on
> a cookbook that doesn't have a recipe for peanut butter and jelly
> sandwiches. When I buy a cookbook, I expect it to *tell me how to cook*. And
> don't tell me to just make a PBJ myself, I'm not some sort of hippy artist
> pretentious "freeform cook."
>
> *Posted: 1:08 a.m. by jvmkanelly* Where are the recipes for chatting with
> friends while cooking? Where are the recipes for conversation over the meal?
> When I throw a dinner party, I want it to be a PARTY. I guess the idiots who
> use the Better Joy Cookbook just cook and eat in stony silence, never saying
> a word or even looking each other in the eye.
>
> *Posted: 1:23 a.m. by LordOrcus* Hey, guess what? They're coming out with The
> Better Joy Book of Hors D'oeuvres. It just goes to show that the publishers
> are a bunch of corporate greedheads who care more about money than they do
> about cooking. Is it too much to ask for a single cookbook that contains all
> possible recipes?
>
> *Posted: 1:48 a.m. by specsheet* Hey, everyone. I can tell just by reading
> the recipe that if you prepare eggs benedict as written, the sauce will
> separate. My mom always said the other kids made fun of me because they were
> jealous of my intelligence, so I must be right. Everyone who's saying that
> they followed the recipe and it came out perfect is either lying, or loves
> greasy separated hollandaise sauce.
>
> *Posted: 1:52 a.m. by IAmEd* As I have pointed out MANY TIMES, several of
> these recipes contain raisins, and I, like most people, am ALLERGIC to
> raisins! And before you tell me to substitute dried cranberries, I will
> reiterate that I am discussing the recipes AS WRITTEN. I do not appreciate
> your ATTACKING ME with helpful suggestions!
>
> *Posted: 2:12 a.m. by Herodotus* I just have to laugh at the recipe for Beef
> Wellington. In Wellington's day, ovens didn't have temperature settings! And
> pate de foie gras *certainly* didn't come in cans. It's like the authors
> didn't even *care* about replicating authentic early 19th century cooking
> techniques!
>
> *Posted: 2:17 a.m. by LordOrcus* I have read the new Better Joy Cookbook and
> I am devastated to my very core. Their macaroni and cheese recipe, the very
> macaroni and cheese I've been making since I was in college, has been
> ravaged and disfigured and left bleeding on the page. Where once it
> contained only cheddar cheese, now the recipe calls for a mix of cheddar and
> Colby. It may contain macaroni, and it may contain cheese, but it is
> *not*macaroni and cheese. This is a slap in the face and a knife in
> the gut. You
> have lost me, Better Joy Cookbook. I would bid you goodbye, but I wish you
> nothing but the pain and rage you have delivered unto me.
>
> - - -
>
> *Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg
> eventually overcame these handicaps to go by the Secret Service code name
> "Infinite Oregano."*