One of the
greatest benefits of the internet is the democratization of knowledge and
skills. Today, a simple search can yield the information you need on almost
any topic—from cooking tips and recipes to advanced technical skills.
With the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs), learning online became
even easier. Where you once had to sift through multiple webpages, LLMs now aggregate
information, summarize it, and sometimes provide links to their sources.
Life feels simpler—at least on the surface.
But here’s
the catch: when you try to replicate what you’ve learned online, you
quickly realize that what worked for A may not work exactly for B.
Take recipes
as an example. You might follow a recipe step by step, only to discover the
outcome isn’t quite what you expected. Why? Because ingredient variations
matter. Products from different brands or regions can have different impacts on
a meal’s outcome. Even if you manage to source the exact same items as the
recipe creator’s, your taste preferences might make the food taste
disastrous to you.
My own
attempts at recreating dough-based recipes made me realise that most
food bloggers use sugar quantities I find excessive. And flour? Not all flours
are created equal—their hydration levels differ. The same amount of
liquid that works for one brand might ruin another. So, I’ve learned to adapt
recipes to my taste and the products I have available.
Another
example: peppers. If you use the same quantity of fresh pepper recommended by a
Nigerian food blogger, but your peppers come from Asia, you might end up
with a dish you can’t eat. I learned this the hard way—the peppers I buy from
the Asian shops are far hotter than those I buy in Nigeria. These days, I often
use just a fraction of one pepper when cooking.
I grew up
in a time when cooking was a skill physically passed down from those who
had it. Certain restaurants were famous for their dishes, guarding their
recipes like trade secrets. Today, almost anyone can cook, and eating out is no
more about restaurants or chefs with exclusive recipes. Thanks to the internet,
one can make meals one never would have learnt without attending a culinary school
or from a chef. I have learnt to customize
recipes for my lifestyle. For instance, I avoid industrial MSG-based
seasonings, even when learning from bloggers who use them.
The
takeaway? In recipes—and in life—gain the knowledge, but don’t replicate it
blindly. Adapt it to your context. Leave strict replication for standardized
procedures in labs and industries, not for your home, your life, or your
kitchen.
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