Jump to Recipe

If you have ever looked up a recipe online, you will know that the standard format that’s emerged, in this SEO-dominated world, is like this:

• Title
• Brief Description
• Hundreds of words of SEO-targeted useless drivel
• The recipe

This recipe for shrimp stir-fry, for example, has 792 words of filler material before you get to the actual recipe, filled with “content” like “What People Are Saying.”

I just want the recipe!

Somewhat helpfully, also part of the standard format is a link, sometimes subtle and near-hidden, “Jump to Recipe,” that lets you skip the fluff (because the fluff, after all, isn’t intended for humans, it’s fodder for robots).

Meanwhile, AI.

Tired of the everyday fizzy water, I asked ChatGPT:

Give me a recipe for a fresh Sodastream non-alcoholic cocktail using common kitchen ingredients.

To which it replied:

Here’s a simple, refreshing non-alcoholic cocktail you can make with a SodaStream and common kitchen ingredients. It’s got a little zing, a little sweetness, and plenty of sparkle.

Citrus-Ginger Fizz

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lemon (or lime), juiced
• 1–2 tsp honey or maple syrup (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or a pinch of ground ginger)
• Sparkling water from your SodaStream
• A few fresh mint leaves (optional but great)
• Ice cubes

Instructions:

1. In a glass or small jug, combine the lemon juice, honey or syrup, and ginger. Stir well until the sweetener dissolves.
2. Add a few mint leaves and gently muddle them with the back of a spoon (optional).
3. Fill a glass with ice cubes.
4. Pour the citrus-ginger mixture over the ice.
5. Top with fresh SodaStream sparkling water.
6. Give it a gentle stir. Taste and adjust with more honey or lemon if needed.
7. Garnish with a mint sprig or a citrus wedge if you’re feeling fancy.

Sure, hallucinations, intellectual property theft, lack of sourcing–all completely valid concerns as we move toward an AI-driven Internet.

Say what you will about all that, though: I now have a machine that I can ask for a recipe and that will give me a recipe. That’s hard to resist, and makes the old “Google, wade through advertising, pick a search result and hope for the best, click Jump to Recipe” pattern seem inane.

The “Citrus Ginger Fizz,” by the way, was delightful.