Cooking with USENET

USENET has a lot of great conversations going on. Some of the best conversations, of course, take place in the kitchen!

One of the things about USENET that has allowed it to endure for nearly three decades is the fact that it has such a wide variety of content available. Among the content is information on practical and everyday needs. Of course, there is nothing quite as practical as cooking, and there are many USENET groups devoted to this activity.

Find the right recipes

If you are not very familiar with the USENET system, finding cooking groups is a good exercise in understanding how the USENET system works. USENET is organized and hierarchical, and there are eight main hierarchies that most people need to be concerned about. Outside of these hierarchies are newsgroups that are very local in focus and hierarchies that are not of much interest to most people.

You’ll find most cooking newsgroups located in the alt and rec hierarchies. Rec is the more respected of the two hierarchies in which you will find cooking groups. Alt also has a lot of good groups, but it’s not as well established or moderated as the groups in the rec hierarchy.

You will find the cooking groups located under the foods. In USENET-speak, this means that you would look for groups under the rec.food or alt.food hierarchy to find what you want. One of the great things about USENET is that it allows you to narrow down your preferences very specifically. For example, if you’re interested in baking, you can check out the rec.food.baking newsgroup. If you’re interested in cooking for a diet, you can check out alt.food.low-fat, or if you want more creative ways to cook that low-fat meal, you can check out rec.food.recipes.

join groups

One of the things that’s really nice about newsgroups, like cooking newsgroups, is the fact that, of course, they’re relatively free of controversies of any kind. Unlike joining a political or even scientific group, you won’t find many arguments in a cooking group or other hobby-related group. This makes these groups light-hearted and fun. You can also use them to network with people with similar interests. For example, some people like to live a bit off the grid, and if you want to meet some of them, you can check out rec.food.preserving for new ways to preserve your own food.

There are USENET categories for almost every subject, as well as food and cooking. If you are interested in exploring a group before you start participating in it, you can simply subscribe to the posts and read them. In fact, many people do this. You are under no obligation to post or even introduce yourself to other members. In your first post, however, it’s customary to at least introduce yourself and, if you’ve been in a group for a while and haven’t posted before, mention the fact that you’ve been participating in the conversation, if not participating in it directly.