As someone in my late 20s addicted to doomscrolling, I’ve seen all the trends.
It’s been a source of mild amusement to me over the years how the Instagram Reel algorithm changes what it thinks I want to see from month to month, but I’ve recently noticed a consistent trend of recipe videos appearing in my feed.
Cooking videos are an extraordinarily popular and influential genre of short-form videos. Approximately 57% of Gen Z and Millennial TikTok users are influenced by the food-related content they see on the platform.
Now, other apps are taking advantage of the popularity of cooking videos using AI, that omnipresent specter of the modern internet.
How recipe apps are capitalizing on the popularity of cooking videos
They help reduce the disconnect between viewers and creators
A common joke among connoisseurs of these cooking videos is that we save all these recipes, but never make them.
Content creators are fully aware of this, and often start videos with a statement that acknowledges that while most viewers never make the recipes they see, this recipe is different because you’ll actually make it.
Most videos that share a recipe tend to revolve around keywords like “Ready in 30 minutes” or “Easiest recipe you’ll ever make.”
Recipes that are complex or time-consuming to make tend not to share step-by-step guides. These are often created as ASMR content or advertisements for businesses.
Part of the problem with short-form cooking tutorials is that it’s hard to reference the content while you cook.
Some videos will include step-by-step guides in the captions, but for many others, you have to transcribe them yourself.
Even if a recipe is detailed in the caption, TikTok and Reels don’t let you copy the text. The effort required to transcribe text into a notes app or recipe app manually is usually overwhelmed by the desire to watch just one more video.
Viewers save the recipe to Instagram or TikTok, then forget about it.
Enter the recipe apps. I’ve seen a significant uptick in ads for these apps in recent weeks.
They claim that you can use TikTok’s or Instagram Reels’ share function to send the video to the app. They will then use AI to analyze the video and turn it into a recipe you can follow at your leisure.
Intrigued by this attempt to solve a problem that’s long been reduced to meme status, I tried four of the apps that were recommended to me the most as I scrolled.
There’s a clear winner for saving recipes
The green flags were there from the start
Setting up the first three apps in my experiment was one of the more bizarre experiences in my career.
ReciMe, Stashcook, and Recify were so alike in their setup procedure that I thought I had time-traveled back five minutes each time I opened an app.
It’s hyper-optimized app design at its finest, so Flavorish immediately gained my respect by skipping all the junk about how users were “five times more likely to eat better” and taking me directly to the home screen.
Perhaps this painless and unique setup was related to the app’s success in my experiment.
The first video I tested was a professionally edited noodle recipe with that familiar tagline “A recipe you’ll actually make.”
It provided a detailed audio and video walkthrough, along with an ingredient list and a step-by-step guide in the caption.
Thanks to the detailed caption, each app perfectly copied it. However, Recify and ReciMe copied the instructions word for word, while the others cut any text they deemed unnecessary.
For example, the video instructs you to heat the oil until it’s “sizzle your eyebrows off hot.” Flavorish and Stashcook apps removed this description, instead stating “really hot.”
The second video broke one of the apps. It was an ASMR-style potato soup recipe that provided a detailed ingredient list, but no audio or text walkthrough.
ReciMe failed to import the video, but the other three apps successfully identified what was happening in the video.
Here, Stashcook was the winner, as it gave useful advice not shown in the video (for example, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to leave some grease in the pot).
I’d need to make it myself to check the instructions, but I’m familiar enough with cooking techniques to know that each of the three apps’ guides was accurate enough to replicate the original recipe.
The third video’s chef took a casual, friendly tone as he prepared aloo bazi. The video was easy to understand, but it lacked precise descriptions of measurements and timings. The caption contained no information on ingredients or steps.
This time, ReciMe successfully imported the recipe, but both it and Stashcook incorrectly named the recipe. Stashcook also invented steps not stated in the video.
ReciMe and Flavorish also missed the most crucial step of the video, adding potatoes to the pan.
While it’s easy enough to infer when to make this step, it’s bizarre that they both missed a step clearly stated in the video.
Consistency is key
The most important factor in any AI-powered tool for me is consistency. I’m fine with AI making mistakes, but it needs to make them predictably and consistently so I can compensate.
In this experiment, the Flavorish app was the only one that created the most reliable guides. Stashcook was either overly helpful or completely incorrect.
ReciMe couldn’t understand some videos and inserted unhelpful descriptions. Recify was nearly as effective at creating guides as Flavorish, but its steps were much harder to understand.
Another benefit of Flavorish is that while I now have to cancel three free trials for the other apps, Flavorish merely sets a five-recipe limit before you have to pay for the service.
For consumer-friendly design, reliable AI, and the best UI, Flavorish is the recipe app I recommend for saving viral recipes.
