Are questions on recipes aceptable?

Question

It seems to me these could be related to nutrition, but there is a question that has been downvoted - does anyone have an opinion on whether they should be closed or not?

Answer 1

I think meal preparation and recipe swapping steps just outside the nutrition scope of this site. But let's not get too crazy. You don't want to create moratorium against discussions about proper food selections on a nutrition site.

Obviously any discussion about nutrition will involve food choices but I would keep those discussions more about actual food choices (nutrition, on topic) and less about preparation and presentation (culinary talk, off topic).

For example:

• My stomach cannot handle citrus fruits but where else can I get my Vitamin C? — On topic
• Doctor said eat more bananas. How can I make them more palatable? — Right on that edge, off topic
• What is your favorite tofu recipe? — Definitely off topic

A big part of nutrition and fitness is menu choices for for whatever issue is being discussed. That's okay for this site. For example, one might answer:

As a weightlifter, you have to get more protein in your diet. Here is a sample menu:

Meal 1: 6:45 am
    1 cup oatmeal
    12 egg whites
    1 whole egg
    1/2 large grapefruit
Meal 2: 9:30 am
    1 cup oatmeal
    2 scoops vanilla protein powder (or 12 egg whites)
    1/2 large grapefruit
(etc.)

This isn't a cooking site (our Cooking site doesn't allow recipe-swapping either <grin>). But let's not jump on every user who asks about "what are good foods for [X] situation?"

Answer 2

I think questions should focus on aspects that allow users to answer variations on the topic themselves.

What nutritions are important for anaerobic exercise?

Or something of the sort. It would just list what kind of ingredients are suitable or you should be avoiding, then you can create your own diet based on those. Just asking: give me the recipe makes for a really bad question.

Answer 3

From the Fitness FAQ:

If your motivation for asking the question is “I would like to participate in a discussion about ______”, then you should not be asking here.

The question referenced is not a question of proper nutrition, but of recipes:

Could you suggest me quick recipes for protein diet?

This is definitely outside the scope defined in the FAQ.

Answer 4

I think this type of question requesting recipes would fall under the:

From the FAQ:

every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite ______?”

There wouldn't be a single valid answer; every person submitting a recipe would be a correct answer.