By Lutho Pasiya 
Aug 6, 2021
Share this article:
Cookpad, a recipe-sharing website, and app, is here to make the lives of South African foodies so much easier.
Founded in 1997 in Japan by Aki Sano, it started its international expansion with the aim of bringing its mission to the world. Having established a presence in South Africa in 2017, it is ready to grow its user base throughout the country.
Cookpad is a vibrant and welcoming community where members help and empower each other by sharing their experiences of creating unique dishes in their kitchens, recreating others’ recipes, and reacting, commenting, and sending photos (known as Cooksnaps) of their efforts.
Available in more than 70 countries and 30 languages, thousands of people come to it every day to meet and learn from fellow home cooks, not professionals and inject variety and fun into their daily cooking routines.
Cookpad regional manager in Sub-Saharan Africa, Micah Sarkas says its mission is to make everyday cooking fun because they believe that cooking is the key to a happier and healthier life for people, communities, and the planet.
“The choices we make shape our world. And when we cook, the choices we make have an impact on ourselves, the people we cook for, the growers and producers we buy from, and the wider environment. By building a platform that solves issues related to everyday cooking and makes everyday cooking fun, people will cook more often and we can help build a better world.
“The company’s articles of incorporation state that “when everyone on the planet enjoys everyday cooking, our company will dissolve,” hence South Africa and Africa are key in fulfilling this global mission,” Sarkas says.
Asked how the response has been with South Africans, he says it has taken a “community first” approach to growing its South African community.
“We want to build a diverse community which represents our rainbow nation and we’re growing steadily. We have over 40 000 users to date throughout South Africa and over 6 000 recipes.
“Our recipes are from local cooks making everything from dombolo, creamy samp dishes, Rama biscuit ‘secret recipes’, potjies all the way to some amazing Italian, Greek and French meals,” Sarkas says.
How does Cookpad work?
It is available on both mobile app and the web. It’s free to use and everyone is welcome to join the community. With its simple and intuitive navigation, you can search for your favourite local and international dishes, browse the recipe feed for inspiration, or create and share recipes and tips of your own. Send reactions and comment on recipes you like and save them in your own personal collection.
Here are other amazingly helpful food and recipe apps you can try right now.
What’s For Dinner
On What’s For Dinner, you will find simple recipes and convenient mealtime solutions to help you bring the joy back to dinnertime. From healthy dinners, waste-free meal planners, to easier-than-they-look desserts, they have got it all. And even better, you can now get everything you need to cook up delicious recipes delivered straight to your doorstep with brand-spanking-new shoppable recipes.
They have also expanded their site to include more delicious recipes from more of your favourite brands and products – so you get more mealtime inspiration than ever before.
My Kitchen Calculator
The kitchen calculator (also known as a kitchen converter, kitchen unit converter, baking unit converter, or cooking unit converter) is a kitchen tool that can be used to help you convert between the most common units used in cooking and baking.
The kitchen calculator tool also has a conversion pad that helps you keep track of recent conversions and allows you to edit or add notes. It includes most of the conversion tools found on their website and additional tools such as an ingredient unit converter that allows you to convert between volume and weight measurements for more than 250 ingredients.