"Why start another blog? Why not! I just love what I do." Joanna Cismaru
Back to the website titles that have captured my eye - for all sorts of different reasons I might say. Today it's Jo Cooks, which I added to my list, because it often pops up when I am looking for particular recipes. Which to me means that it must be hugely popular. Some websites you only see once in a blue moon. Others pop up all the time and Jo Cooks is one of them.
Now I'm not very good at finding out this kind of thing, but I did find on Foodspot that in terms of their rankings Jo Cooks is number 29 on their list of Top Canadian Foodie websites. So not world beating and not with millions of viewers - according to them she has 911.6k followers on Facebook - OK almost 1 million - and 272.8k on Instagram - they don't say how many for the website.
This is Jo, otherwise known as Joanna Cismaru who lives in Calgary, Canada with her husband Remo. She was born in Romania and so there are some Romanian recipes here and there, but her most loved cuisines are Italian and Chinese.
Her introduction is full of all the usual stuff - and of course it should be. It's a truism that all the people who write cookbooks (well not quite all of them), and virtually all of the people who write foodie blogs, are here to help us enjoy cooking delicious food in an uncomplicated and fast way. Although to be fair to her she does say rather more in her introduction than some. The focus is broad - and I suppose unoriginal if you were feeling unkind.
"My mission traverses beyond the boundaries of ordinary cooking; it is to unravel the complexities of gourmet recipes from around the globe and present them in a simplified manner, making gourmet cooking a reachable goal for every home cook."
And there's a dog - actually two although there is only a photo of one - a very cute Aussie Doodle whatever that is, called Han Solo. The other dog is a Springer Doodle called Jack Ryan.
Her background is not a life in food however, as her first career was in IT - programming I think, which was:
"a career I thoroughly enjoyed and had passionately aspired to since my younger years. It was a realm of endless possibilities and continuous learning."
However, she had a "lingering yearning for a second career", and so changed to cooking and this blog. I'm not sure when but at some point she began a second website called Craving Home Cooked, where she actually says that she changed from the IT world because of the stress. The quote at the top of the page is her reasoning for starting a second blog. It's really not very satisfactory. I mean why would you do that? I could understand perhaps if it was very different from the first one, going in a different direction. But it isn't. It's very similar to the first. In fact the most recent recipes on each site are really somewhat similar: Beef shish kebab (Jo Cooks) and Szechuan beef (Craving Home Comfort). Perhaps I'm being a bit mean here as the flavour and cooking methods are different, but it's beef and it's capsicum.
I do not think that the same recipes appear on both websites, but there are similarities. On Craving Home Comfort she tells us that the most popular recipe is Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta and it doesn't exist on Jo Cooks, but there are Slow cooker creamy Tuscan chicken orzo and also Creamy Tuscan chicken. Slightly different cooking methods, but the same ingredients - cream, Italian seasoning, sun-dried tomatoes and chicken.
I recognise I am being somewhat critical here, because this is the kind of thing we all do is it not? - same ingredients with maybe a slight variation here and there, but cooked slightly differently.
The way it is all set out is similar to so many others - which is not a criticism. In many ways the layout is similar to Recipe Tin Eats, notes on the ingredients and the techniques involved, videos and lots of photographs demonstrating the various steps. And although there are indeed ads at the side and popping up on and off, they are mostly at the side or the bottom of the screen and don't interfere with the recipe itself. In fact one of the little videos that appear on the bottom right are videos of other recipes on her site, which is a a good way to get you to explore the site further.
The photographs are pretty good - sometimes excellent - as witness this one for her Quiche Lorraine recipe on Jo Cooks.
So yes, it's probably as good as any other website for everyday but delicious food. Don't expect any chat, or much information about the dish itself however. Which may not be your thing anyway, and it certainly, apparently, isn't what most people want. Lots of them get very annoyed that they have to wade through 'chat' before they get to the recipe. So I guess I would have to say it's up there with most of the more professional websites that give you recipes for the 'classics' and slight variations thereof. And publishers obviously think she has enough followers because she has three books published so far.
I really, really don't understand, however, why you would have two very similar websites running at the same time. Simply saying 'why not?' is not an answer.
Here and there there are some tiny glitches in how the site works - particularly I think with the Craving Home Comfort site - where, for example, there were some Frequently Asked Questions which implied that you clicked and got an answer - but no. Also no margin around a photograph - the text was right up against it. Sloppy for a professional website.
Maybe it't the weather - it's a dull day - or maybe it's minor arguments with my husband over the price of shampoo for birthday presents, because I realise I am probably being a bit over critical.
However, it seems to me that these days if you want to be a major force in the blogosphere you need to do more than provide recipes that everyone else is providing too. Sure you can tackle the same recipes, but you need to add something extra in either the presentation or the text, or else you are a genius and can invent wonderful new food, introduce a new cuisine or write superbly well about food or place or life in general.
Good luck to her though. The food does indeed look delicious - and easy.
POSTSCRIPT
August 16
2023 - A goddess steak
2022 - Nothing
2021 - Sisters - a moment in time
2019 - Oh dear! (the effects of alcohol)
2017 - A word from Greg Malouf
2016 - A birthday dinner at Sofia's
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