Call it the Starbucks syndrome: Seattle has a thing for food-related websites. UrbanSpoon.com, the popular restaurant site, started here; it's now nationwide and part of IAC Interactive. ChefShop.com, a shopping site, is based in Seattle, as is SurLaTable.com. Foodista.com, a recipe site for serious foodies, was launched here a year and a half ago. Just last month, yet another site — KitchenMonki.com — was given its official launch.
But the granddaddy of them all is Allrecipes.com, launched here 14 years ago and a part of Readers Digest since 2006. With over 1 million site visits a day, it's the leading online resource for information about food and cooking, focused not on the frou-frou or the hard core but on the basics of getting the family's dinner on the table, with 16 international sites as well. (Favorite search term in the US: sugar cookies. In France, leg of lamb. In India, chicken kebab.)
Operating out of new quarters opposite Westlake Center, Allrecipes launched its own TV channel last month with instructional content (3-minute videos like "How to Make a Pan Sauce") from another local startup, RouxBe.com, and today (July 29) premieres a weekly original show, "What's Cooking," that features home cooks around the country making a popular recipe. The opening episode has Mount Vernon resident, Jonae Steinman, preparing pecan-crusted salmon.
"It's not about process," says Michael Ketchum, who hosts the shows, "it's about outcome, results."
