Hi there, Reader
10 years ago I had the crazy idea to start a vegan recipe website.
I had no idea what I was doing, didn't know one end of WordPress from another, and couldn't take a decent food photo to save my life, as demonstrated by this gem from my website's media archives 🤭:
Little did I know that I'd end up giving up my job to take it full-time, have millions of readers from all over the world, publish a cookbook, and still be going strong a decade later.
I am so grateful and lucky to be able to do what I love every single day and none of it would have been possible without YOU! I appreciate every single one of you more than you'll ever know.
Will there be another 10 years?
This is a bit long but is important so please stick with me!
I'd love nothing more than for there to be another decade of delicious vegan recipes but our online and social media landscape is changing FAST and if you want my website to stick around I need your help.
You see, until now, if you wanted a great tried-and-true recipe, you could type it into Google, and my site or another great recipe site would pop up at the top of your search results. Or you'd hop onto Pinterest or Facebook and easily find a good recipe there.
Well, not anymore. Scammers are flooding Google, Pinterest, and Facebook with AI-generated recipes. Some are so bad that you can tell immediately, while others are not so obvious. It makes it very hard for you to tell what's real and what's not.
We're talking AI recipes, photos, everything. There's a robot spewing them out and the photos aren't even real. They are produced from a mishmash of stolen content from across the web which then gets regurgitated into a "recipe" that probably won't work well (if at all).
Spot the AI Photo
Here's an example of my chocolate chip muffin recipe that got ripped off by an AI Facebook page. The AI recipe they shared contained flour, chocolate and almond milk. That was it. Anyone who made it would have ended up with terrible results.
Here is my photo and their AI-generated photo. I mean, it's so obvious they used my picture to generate this! 😡
Can you tell which is mine and which is AI?
A is my picture and B is AI. Notice the texture of the AI muffin looks a bit too smooth, and there is a muffin liner on the muffin and also another one which is peeled back.
There are whole recipe websites out there like this. They even have an AI-generated author photo and bio.
The price of food these days is no joke and you should not have to waste your hard-earned money on bad recipes. A bot has never set foot in a kitchen and is incapable of testing a recipe or tweaking flavours/results.
You deserve better!
What does this mean for real food bloggers?
What this means for real creators like me is that we are being pushed further and further down in search results and drowned out on social media. Take a look at your Facebook or Pinterest feed and you'll notice the sheer volume of AI content.
This means fewer eyes on our content and consequently less income. That is having a huge impact with many creators giving up on their websites or selling them, often to people who will use them to churn out AI content.
What's scary for you is when they sell their website like this, often the terms involve them also selling their likeness. That means their photo and bio remain as the face of the brand, but they actually have nothing to do with it anymore and you will never know.
Don't Let AI Garbage Win. Here's How You Can Help.
1. Skip Google - Come Directly to Me. Instead of searching “vegan potato soup,” try searching “A Virtual Vegan potato soup.” This tells Google you want my recipe and not an AI knockoff. (I may not have every recipe you're looking for but feel free to email me directly and ask me for a recipe recommendation from someone I know and trust to have real and reliable recipes).
2. Bookmark www.avirtualvegan.com on your phone and computer. That way you can come straight to my website and not have to rely on search results.
3. Follow Me Where I CAN control content. My email list is the best place for that because there are no algorithms (and as you're reading this you're probably already on it so thank you!). If you're not already on my email list you can join here.
4. Have a recipe of mine you love? Rate it and review it on my website. That really helps show other visitors and Google that the recipe is a quality one.
5. Vet your recipes/recipe websites. Choose well-tested recipes from trusted human sources. If you're not sure, a great way to tell a website or social media page is human-run is to look at the comments under the recipes. Is there someone (who doesn't sound like a bot) replying? Also if you email or DM do you get a reply? While they probably can't reply to absolutely everything, you should see a decent amount of responses. If not that's a red flag.
6. Support your favourite recipe creators by sharing their recipes with your friends and family, and liking, sharing, and commenting on their content on social media. Every single interaction helps!
Let’s keep REAL recipes made by REAL people alive!
And please don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. With your support, I’ll be busy cooking, testing, tweaking, photographing, and making sure everything I share with you is real, delicious, and tested thoroughly.
Here's to another decade of keeping animals off our plates and in our hearts with A Virtual Vegan!
Mel x
Click to explore more delicious recipes!
P.S. Loving my recipes & these emails? Buy me a coffee to say thanks!
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