Cookbook:FAQ

A reviewed version of this page, approved on 6 March 2021, was based off this revision.

What is the Cookbook?

The cookbook is a collaborative effort to document all aspects of cooking from recipes to culinary techniques. As a Wikibook, anyone is free to add, edit, or change content. A wiki is an ideal forum for communicating information such as recipes because it allows users to give feedback about recipes they have tried themselves. Consult the Wikibook help page for a well-organized and comprehensive overview of Wikibooks.

How is the Cookbook organized?

The Cookbook is organized around categories and types. Category pages are useful as tables of contents, but do not have additional content written about them. When a new recipe is created, a category, e.g., Italian_recipes, can be added to the bottom of the new recipe page. By doing so, this new recipe is added to that category page, which is simply an automatically generated listing of all pages referring to that Category. Cookbook entries are also organized by types. Types are groupings that are substantial enough to have additional content written about them. For example, the page for the type Cookbook:Cuisine_of_Italy has information about Italian cooking techniques, historical information, and a selective listing of the most important Italian recipes. When a new Italian recipe is created, its type is entered into the top of its page and the user has the option of manually linking to that recipe from the type page if they deem the new recipe important enough.

How can I add a recipe?

Consult the Policy page for an explanation of how pages are formatted.

How do I keep track of recent changes to the Cookbook?

First, select the recent changes module in the left-hand navigation. By default, the module displays changes made to all of the Wikibooks. You can then filter the listing by namespace, such as Cookbook or Cookbook talk, using the drop-down list and then clicking on the Go button.

Alternatively, you can use the watchlist to keep track of a particular entry. On the top of the page, when you are logged in, there is a tab that says "watch". When you click that button, the page will go onto your personal watch list. (In the mobile view, this is the outline of a 5-pointed star, ☆. When you click it, it becomes a solid green star, ★.) Then, to see your watchlist, you can click the "My Watchlist" link in the upper right-hand corner (near your user name). Alternatively, when you edit a page, there is a check box labelled "Watch this page", which has the same effect. If you want to automatically watch every page you edit, you could click on the "preferences" link (right next to "my watchlist"), and under the "editing" button, click the checkbox labeled "Add pages and files I edit to my watchlist". Then, every time you edit any page in Wikibooks, it will add that page to your watchlist.