A new survey carried out by market research firm InsightExpress has shown that more people prefer to surf the Internet for recipe ideas than turn to magazines.

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Based in Stamford, Connecticut, the information firm polled 800 homes and found that while 34% turned first to cookbooks when seeking recipe tips, a large 23% admitted that they used the Web as the primary source of information. Only 21% favoured using magazines.


Lee Smith, COO at InsightExpress, explained: “The best Web sites allow you to get recipes, they also allow you to get the personal opinions of fellow cooks on these recipes. It’s a much better information model than a static magazine page.”


The research is expected to prove useful for food manufacturers, who may now look into the advertising and product placement opportunities with online recipe sites before investigating options at their hard copy counterparts.


Furthermore, the survey revealed that independent websites are most popular with home cooks, who visit them 49% of the time while hunting for recipes. Consumers also value the information found online through the websites of supermarket and food brand manufacturers, however. Such sites appear to be visited by home cooks about 40% of the time, and Kraft’s Kraftfoods.com proved the most popular with visits by 33% of respondents. 

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