If You Love Junk Email – Sign Up at America’s Test Kitchen
If you watch America’s Test Kitchen (ATC) on PBS, you’re told you can find lots of useful information on their website. But there’s a catch. Recipes and ratings from the current season is free. Older recipes, ratings and online cooking school requires a paid membership.
To view free recipes from their current season you are required to provide your email address. Otherwise, click on a recipe and you get a page of blurred content like the recipe for their Chocolate-Espresso Dacquise. Looks good doesn’t it?
ATC Blurred Recipe
What do you get in return for your email address beside access to the current season’s recipes? Authorized junk mail or what is in my opinion SPAM. Other websites may send a weekly email offer. But not ATC. I’ve saved every email from January 1, 2014 through June 30, 2014. A total of 99 emails for book discounts, their online cooking school, and monthly Cook’s Illustrated magazine. That averages out to almost 4 emails per week.
But recall, it is authorized email by providing your email address.
Here is their Email Address policy:
America’s Test Kitchen will not sell, rent, or disclose your email address to third parties unless otherwise notified. Your email address is required to identify you for free access to content on the site. You will also receive free newsletters and notification of America’s Test Kitchen specials.
An occasional notification or newsletter is acceptable, but 4 emails per week of for the same offers! ATC publishes dozens of cookbooks and comes out with a new cookbook as fast as they can repackage old recipes. It’s like a modern supermarket packed with thousands of unhealthy, worthless items.
There was a time when a family had a few well worn, reliable cookbooks like Joy of Cooking. Very few cooks need dozens of cookbooks. I own about a dozen cookbooks which I’ve use for research and regularly use the following 5 cookbooks:
Joy of Cooking
Southern Living Cookbook
Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen
Bread Baking
Live Longer and Healthier Eating Foods You Love
Yes, the last one is mine, which I wrote to record my parents recipes. I own two ATC cookbooks:
New Best Recipes – Recommended
Comfort Food Makeovers – Not Recommended
ATC tries to capitalize on every diet and cooking crazy by publishing dozens of speciality cookbooks catering to every segment of the population. Want to eat gluten free? Covered. Want to eat modified junk food? Covered. Want to bake desserts that will send your blood sugar through the roof? Covered.
Can you image adding any more frosting to a cupcake?
ATC Email Offer
After their email bombardment began and seeing America’s Test Kitchen’s commercialism, I’ve stopped watching their shows. Mr. Kimball and ATC live in a fantasy world.
I don’t appreciate receiving emails written by a desk. Apparently, From Christopher Kimball or From Chris aren’t appropriate. Emails are created by his desk which happens to use his photo. Hmmmm.
From Chris’s Desk
Having collected six months of data to determine how often Chris’s desk wrote I unsubscribed. Farewell Chris and ATC. If you were a home cook who worked for a living, you’d know most people don’t have time to to use 3 pots, 2 skillets, 4 knives 15 ingredients and assorted small appliances and utensils to prepare each home cooked meal to your standards and spend over an hour cleaning up after each meal. Perhaps those issues will be addressed in one of their future cookbooks.