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Show HN: Veganize any recipe site with EatKind Chrome extension
- stefantalpalaru 5y ago
- neetha 5y agoHello, I'm the Founder & CEO at EatKind. This is my first post on HN, and I'm looking for feedback on our latest Chrome extension. We launched EatKind – https://eatkind.co https://eatkind.co around 6 months back to help anyone eat less meat, eggs and dairy. EatKind can veganize ANY recipe, dish or ingredient by providing plant-based alternatives to use in place of animal-derived ingredients. And we just launched this Chrome extension to make it all the more easier for users to veganize a meal. All you have to do is install the extension, and visit any recipe site! EatKind works in the US, UK and India today. We are looking to add support to more countries soon. Some of our upcoming features are: being able to favourite your recipes, create a shopping list, integration with online vegan stores. If you're looking to cut down your meat or dairy consumption or transitioning to a plant-based diet - we would love to hear from you.
- gorjusborg 5y agoCurious, why does this need to be a browser extension? I'm interested in the concept here, but the use of a browser extension just seems like a vector to do nefarious things.
- neetha 5y agoYou don't need this extension. You can use the search box on eatkind.co. No sign-in required. The extension makes it simpler to see the whole recipe along with the instructions and video while you may need recommendations or suggestions to vegnaize it.
- xzjis 5y agoI will not install an extension that is not open source.
- neetha 5y agoI understand your concern. And will consider open sourcing the extension code. You can also use EatKind on https://eatkind.co https://eatkind.co
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ramphastidae 5y agoThis doesn’t “veganize” recipes at all — it takes a recipe URL, searches for non-vegan ingredients, and then spits out affiliate links to common vegan substitutes. Critically, it does not convert the recipe you submit to a vegan one. The “AI-based” marketing language, the affiliate links, the use of an extension … this feels a lot like spam to me.
- neetha 5y ago1. All the products are created, and not searched on the internet. 2. We don't do affiliate links. It just does a simple Google search today. To monetise in the future - we'll either provide cart integration with vegan speciality stores or build our marketplace. But that's in the future. 3. The AI is behind understanding the ingredients, the relationships between them and the alternatives (which may not seem too obvious or evident). And also in evolving the recommendations based on user feedback (in the future). 4. You can use EatKind without the extension - eatkind.co 5. I'll take your point and feedback on not actually converting the recipes. We'll soon provide instructions/chef tips on substituting, along with the products that can be used.
- odiroot 5y agoI would love something like this to remove sugars from recipes and replace them without ruining the overall dish. Especially for baking.
- neetha 5y agoThis is very interesting. We have had similar requests for alternatives for gluten and other allergens.
- drewzero1 5y agoThis is a cool project, and I love that you're looking into other dietary restrictions! Gluten and dairy substitutes would have been very useful to me starting out, but after nearly a decade I tend to make omissions rather than substitutions. I've seen others upthread mention that they prefer to find dishes that are naturally vegan rather than use substitutes. What I (and, possibly, they) could really use would be something that would suggest an alternative recipe or a related dish that works better without substitution-- e.g, a similar recipe that doesn't rely on the meat or cheese for flavor, or which doesn't rely heavily on bread/flour/sugar/etc. as a base ingredient. I expect it'd be more difficult to reliably identify similar recipes AND restrict the search to avoid some set of ingredients, but it would be a very useful resource for people looking to omit certain foods without resorting to (often expensive or unhealthy) substitutes.
- FrenchDevRemote 5y agoAwesome concept, do you plan on releasing a firefox version?
- neetha 5y agoThank you! Unfortunately, we do not have too many users who use Firefox. So probably in the distant future. But you can still use eatkind search on https://eatkind.co https://eatkind.co
- mdaniel 5y agothe parent comment combined with your open source reply[0] is where open source usually shines, in my experience: a feature that is important to the community but isn't prioritized due to lack of energy available I recognize there is some nonzero work involved in stewardship over managing PRs and issues, but hopefully it would be less net energy than EatKind having to do the legwork of porting the extension to FF (and maybe even Safari) themselves 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30195132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30195132
- neetha 5y agoAbsolutely! Also, people love to contribute to projects that help the planet and do good. Will seriously consider open sourcing our client libraries.
- eatonphil 5y agoRather than substituting vegan alternatives in traditional meat meals (like mushroom burger instead of hamburger) I'd personally rather be exposed to more great vegan/vegetarian recipes that were intended to be vegan/vegetarian by the cultures that have great veggy dishes like in South Asia. One way I've gotten more exposed already is watching Rick Stein shows on Amazon like Far Eastern Odyssey and India. Before watching that I thought things like curries were too hard or annoying to make. On the contrary his simple approaches made it clear some of these spicy veggy dishes are the easiest and tastiest to make with whatever veggies you have laying around.
- giantg2 5y agoI'm not a vegan. I love lions mane "crab" cakes and king oyster "scallops". I hear you can also smoke king oyster to make pulled "pork". Not exact replacements, but definitely some interesting and delicious recipes out there for mushrooms.
- alisonatwork 5y agoI've had some excellent "pulled pork" made out of jackfruit. The consistency is similarly chewy/stringy, and if you are looking for American-style BBQ flavor then a lot of that flavor comes from the sauce anyway, so it's pretty easy to sub out the meat. When I lived in a country where it was trivial to buy fresh jackfruit, I just sliced it and threw it into a stir fry and it worked pretty good as a meaty consistency in those too. One thing I still haven't found is a good plant-based version of carnitas, which is a sort of pulled pork from Mexico where they crisp up the top of it as well as have it swimming in lard. I think you could probably get somewhere close to it by using toasted pepitas (pumpkin seed) or something to get the crispy aspect, but to nail all the textures and flavors you'd be getting into a big time-consuming exercise for home cooking. Although, to be fair, I'd never cook meat carnitas at home either due to the time requirement.
- edlucas 5y agoThere's a tasty jackfruit carnitas recipe in the cookbook, "La Vida Verde". You may need to work on an improved method to make them crispy...perhaps adding a final step of putting the skillet under a broiler.
- mcdonje 5y agoVegan here. Based on the screenshots, I don't think I'll use it. It looks like it just recommends brand name products to buy. Not all recipes call for the same substitution for the same ingredient. And not everyone has the same philosophy about how to substitute. For instance, eggs. There are several different uses for them in recipes; binding, leavening, moisture, protein content, etc. There are several different substitutions and most do some of those things better than others. Picking a good egg substitute, or choosing to simply leave the eggs out, requires knowledge and experience, or at least a flow chart. There's enough of an art to it that I'd rather see how others solved the problem than consult a browser plugin that seems geared more to sell me stuff than to help me solve problems.
- wiliaonson 5y agoThis is what I have observed as well. It substitute the brand instead of the alternative itself.
- Tehchops 5y agoMy wife and I are both vegan. We got this book as a Christmas gift: https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Everybody-Foolproof-Plant-Based-Between/dp/194035286X https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Everybody-Foolproof-Plant-Based... It does a great job at the beginning of the book addressing various substitutes for things like eggs, mayo, etc... Since it's done by America's Test Kitchen, they've tested everything extensively, and explain which subs are the best for baking, flavor, and other factors.
- cdumler 5y agoTotally buying this. Thank you very much.
- vvatermelone 5y agoThis was the first (of many) vegan cookbooks I've collected over the years and to this day is still the one I reach for the most, very well thought out.
- spicymaki 5y ago
- davide_v 5y agoBased on the title I was thinking the product was different. The "veganize" term is misleading here imho. I was expecting that, given a recipe, you replace non-vegan ingredients with vegan ingredients and so being able to cook that recipe, somehow. Actually it would be a very nice product...
- neetha 5y agoThat's what it is. You can also try it here: https://eatkind.co https://eatkind.co
- davide_v 5y agoI expected to start from a recipe and then have the veganized recipe. How it works now is a Google search, so I have to find another recipe, if there is. I would skip the Google part and start from a recipe URL and have as a result that specific recipe veganized (ingredients replacement). It would also prevent people from leaving the website.
- neetha 5y agoIf you already have a recipe in mind (eg: https://www.errenskitchen.com/homemade-dark-chocolate-pudding/#wprm-recipe-container-7742 https://www.errenskitchen.com/homemade-dark-chocolate-puddin...) and want to veganize it, you can: 1. Install the chrome extension and visit the recipe website. This will show you the recommendations against each ingredient on the recipe site itself - In the ingredients section of the recipe, it will highlight the non-vegan ingredients. Or on click on the EatKind icon on the toolbar. See short video here: https://youtu.be/bAXdUqqlSvc https://youtu.be/bAXdUqqlSvc (OR) 2. Copy recipe URL and paste in the search box in eatkind.co - this will show you all the ingredients that aren't vegan, along with alternatives - https://eatkind.co/?q=https:%2F%2Fwww.errenskitchen.com%2Fhomemade-dark-chocolate-pudding%2F%23wprm-recipe-container-7742 https://eatkind.co/?q=https:%2F%2Fwww.errenskitchen.com%2Fho... To veganize a dish (eg: "bangers and mash") - you can type in the dish name in the search box and get recommendations for recipes you can veganize. - https://eatkind.co/?q=bangers%20and%20mash https://eatkind.co/?q=bangers%20and%20mash
- tpoacher 5y agoI find the idea behind the extension good, but the name chosen is more of the usual trolling seen in online flamewars, revolving around arbitrary notions of morality based on people's particular religious/moral beliefs. You're setting yourself up for having trolls explicitly leave negative reviews to tell you how X isnt really kind and it destroys rainforests and rats etc etc. Is the perceived moral superiority alluded to by the plugin's name really a necessary selling point? Why not just go for a straightforward "does what it says on the tin" name like "SubstituteVegan" or "VeganizeYourRecipe" or something. Might as well call it "AccordingToMySpiritualBeliefsYouAreAMurderousAssholeIfYouDontClickThis" while you're at it.
- jallen_dot_dev 5y agoVeganism is about being kind to animals. You can argue whether or not it matters to be kind to animals, or whether it's more important to satisfy human taste buds. But I don't think it's arguable that farming animals is unkind to them, and "EatKind" is a relevant and clever name.
- awestroke 5y agoDisclaimer: I eat meat and dairy. Veganism is objectively kinder towards animals, the environment, and often your own body. The rainforest argument is bullshit since something like 70 percent of soy is used for animal feed. Who cares what trolls say.
- neetha 5y agoHaha! I would have bought "Veganize.It" if it was available. EatKind.co is short and easy to remember. Which was important to me. Also, anyone who has decided to cut down or eliminate meat and dairy would do it some kind reason. They are my target market. Negative trollers won't really use this anyway.
- tpoacher 5y agoFair enough, I hope you're right! Your heart seems in the right place and I like the cut of your jib! I wish you all the best. :)
- Jiejeing 5y agoI like the idea, but as other commenters have already pointed out, it only recommends brand name items, which is a bummer (off-the-shelf vegan substitutes are generally very expensive). It would be great if there also was a section "DYI", with the different types of replacements offered (thinking of eggs, specifically, which are always a pain to replace without messing up). A partnership with some vegan recipe websites to offer alternative battle-tested recipes would also be a great addition, because in my experience veganizing recipes without careful and repeated experimentation often ends in disappointment, particularly for cakes or pastries.
- neetha 5y agoWe do provide recommendations with more natural ingredients such as jackfruit, flax seeds, coconut oil, etc. But they are currently lost in the huge list of brand recommendations. Will bump those up. Thank you for these suggestions! Very valuable.
- apolymath 5y ago
- hrbf 5y agoI’ve been a vegan for more than a quarter of a century now and just wish terms like „veganize“ would just vanish. Also, simple substitution works for simple recipes. Anything more involved than a sheet cake needs more experience than s/this/that/. And if you’re going to substitute regular products with a vegan knock-off verbatim anyway, I don’t see how this would assist in any way. Probably full of referral links.
- neetha 5y agoThese aren't referral links. They are a curated list of products that are available in each of our supported countries - USA, UK, India. We tried to get coverage across all categories of non-vegan ingredients as much as possible. Don't plan on ever doing affiliate links. Being a long-term vegan this may seem easy but most people don't know of most plant-based options available to them and how easily they can make a recipe vegan. So that's the purpose - to show that to them. What is also needed is user reviews and feedback on how the products work in different recipes, so that they can make the right choice.
- captainredbeard 5y agoFood is not software. It is not that formulaic. This will never consistently produce good results.