What topics can I ask about here?

This site is for professional and amateur cooks and chefs, and anyone else who works in the kitchen or is interested in preparing and serving delicious meals.

If you have a question about:

  • Cooking & food preparation methods
  • Kitchen equipment
  • Food handling and storage
  • Ingredient selection and use
  • Recipe comprehension, improvement, and repairs
  • The history of food and cooking

...then you've come to the right place - we want to help you!

What about other food-related questions?

Please note that the following subjects are considered off-topic here:

  • Recipe swapping ("I need a recipe for banana cream pie!")
  • General health and diet issue (e.g. "Is cauliflower healthy?")
  • Career advice
  • Wine-making, Brewing, Distillation and Fermentation of alcoholic beverages (try homebrew)
  • Flavor pairing ("What goes with pistachio?"), including ingredient choice ("Which herbs to add to a soup with beef, onions and carrots?")
  • Questions about food in general, but not about its preparation ("Why do Anglosaxon cultures consider eggs a breakfast food?")
  • Asking whether a plant or animal is edible. Try Gardening & Landscaping for identifying a plant, which can help you determine if it is edible.
  • Questions about history of food which would have been closable if the question had no history aspect. For example, "What are historic pizza recipes" is closable just like "What are good pizza recipes" is. Depending on how specialized your question is, you might find answers on History.
  • Equipment or electrical safety (e.g. "Is this microwave still safe to use"): instead, please have a qualified professional inspect the appliance.
  • Questions on the economics of food. Example: "Why are berries more expensive than bananas".

Finally, while food safety in general is on-topic, if you ask a question on how long improperly stored food will be safe (e.g. "I forgot meat on the counter overnight), it will be closed. Please refer to our food safety faq to learn the basic rules of food safety.

If you want to get a more detailed break down of how the site works or why a certain question is on or off topic, then you can browse the questions tagged [faq] on the discussion site.

Note that it is possible for a question to be within the site scope but nevertheless get closed. This is due to the fact that we can only take specific types of questions. For details, see "What types of questions should I avoid asking?"

Please look around to see if your question has been asked before. It’s also OK to ask and answer your own question.

If your question is not specifically on-topic for Seasoned Advice, it may be on topic for another Stack Exchange site. If no site currently exists that will accept your question, you may commit to or propose a new site at Area 51, the place where new Stack Exchange communities are democratically created.