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Are mouthwatering images, courtesy of users, enough to build a community?
Food52 describes itself as a food "community" as well as a shop. If you go to its main website you find articles, full recipes, contests, and a deep e-commerce site around all things food-related. Download the app, however, and the media brand focuses on the social and sharing experience around food. Billed as (Not)Recipes, the app is fairly true to its name. The design tries to capture a mode of food discovery that's more exploratory and inspirational than rigorously tactical. The approach is colorful and certain to stimulate salivary glands. But it can also be frustrating to a devoted cook who just wants to know how to make the damned dish.
The interface is the familiar social feed, bifurcated into a raw feed of member postings and a more curated scroll of highlighted and well-liked posts. But the user is not getting a line of formally formatted recipes. Instead, the feed is devoted to the visual experience of food porn. Many...