Diversivore is Six (aka, So Long 2021)!

I'll fully admit that I was worried there'd be a little less here.  It was a challenging year to get new content out, but I still managed to get a decent selection of recipes and guides out into the world.  I'm looking forward to doing a lot more in the year to come, but for now, let's take a look at what came out on the site in 2021!

I'm so, so glad to have this post up - and excited for the related content that's still to come. This recipe was the culmination of an incredible experience with some absolutely amazing people. It's also a recipe that keeps changing my life - and I can't wait to share more about that this year!

Since these citrusy beauties got me invited halfway around the world, I figured it was time to give them the guide they deserved!

Amazing little pickles made from an ingredient that's popped up with a bit more frequency in the last couple of years.

Oh sure, I COULD just post a green almond recipe... but that's just not the Diversivore way. Accompany your pickles with an ultra-in-depth guide to finding, choosing, and using green almonds.

I've been wanting to do a lot more Indian cuisine on the site, and this happened to be a perfect opportunity. Hyderabadi food is incredible, and worth exploring in depth - and I hope you'll get started with this vegetarian treat.

Japanese plum wine (that's not actually wine)! This recipe was a few years in the making (partly because umeshu has to sit for a long time), but it's here now WITH detailed notes and variations.

Japanese comfort food at its finest. This is one of the best recipes to get started with if you're trying to learn the fundamentals of Japanese cooking. It's also ridiculously good.

German apricot cake! A delicious, simple spring treat. Also, I love saying "Aprikosenkuchen" over and over again.

This recipe is very important to me for a few reasons, some of which I'm going to keep secret (for now). Expect to see this recipe again in new ways in the future.

Waste not, want not - and you're going to WANT to eat allll of these zero-waste pickles. Never throw out a beet stem again.

The annual Diversivore shortbread recipe was a ton of fun this year, and a really delightfully surprising way to use an underappreciated ingredient.

I THOUGHT this was going to be a fun, easy recipe. Fun, yes. Easy to make? Also yes. Easy to write about? Uh... no. But man, I'm glad I did this one. It's delicious and fascinating!

And finally... I went to Alabama! AND I won the International Association of Culinary Professionals award for best individual food blog! WOO!

These were the biggest and most popular posts on the site this year based on page views. There are some perennial classics in the mix, and a few new entries!

They just stayed in the top-10 this year, but they'll ALWAYS be one of my favourites.

A simple, wonderful cocktail.  As of this year, it's also got the accompanying recipe for umeshu to refer to (see above), making it even more accessible.

This is pandesal's first year in the top 10! A lot of research went into making this piece accessible to bakers all around the world. It seems to be paying off, as this post gets hits from countries all over the place!

This has been a Diversivore hit for years now, and it continues to go strong.

New to the top 10, and going strong! We LOVE carbonara here, and this post explores its composition in detail.

New to the top 10 and rising fast!  Apparently everyone loves hearty, beery, amazing stew. Go figure.

Everyone likes a good stir fry, but mastering the process at home can be tricky! This post has been a popular guide to those looking to get started.

The original mega-guide on Diversivore continues to do solid numbers.  I'm hoping to update it with a few new chilies in the near future too!

Boy, was the internet was itching for a detailed, annotated recipe for Vietnamese Egg Meatloaf. This recipe gets seen (and made!) a LOT, and I'm thrilled!

Alright, I've learned my lesson.  These are my hopes for 2022 - they are NOT my guarantees.  I don't really believe in fate, but that doesn't mean I have any interest in tempting it.  Still, I do have some plans for the year that I want to share with you.  Fingers crossed that these can all come to fruition, along with perhaps a few extra!

I really love writing long, detailed pieces that explore recipes and food culture in detail - and I'm delighted that so many of you have expressed your enjoyment for them too!  But I've built up a pretty huge backlog of recipes that I really want to share with you all, and I simply don't have the time or means to write big pieces to go with all of them.  To that end, I'm going to start posting brief, cooking-focused "quick" posts all throughout the year.  I put quick in quotes because I'm still going to be putting in detailed Recipe Notes in order to help you really nail the recipe.  No shortcuts from me - just short posts, packed with detailed and doable recipes.

As I get a few of these up on the site, expect to see a section for them pop up.  I'm hoping to rework site navigation in general in order to help you all discover more content.  In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy the little teaser image for one of these upcoming recipes!

Ok, so I actually hoped to have video up and running in 2021, but life decided that wasn't going to happen.  Because... 2021.  But I'm excited to say that things are taking shape nicely, and I'm excited to bring Diversivore's combination of science, education, culture, and story-telling to a new medium soon.

The big video launch will come with lots of social media and on-site announcements of course, but if you're interested in subscribing now (and thereby lighting a fire under me), you can check out my YouTube channel and the Virtual Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) video I put together last year.  That being said, expect to see a very different type of video content, including tutorials, a little bit of recipe work, and a lot of fascinating culinary history and education starring yours truly.

This one has been in the works for a while, and it will most likely tie into the new video content, as well as some expanded social media and site posts. My Whatsit Wednesday ingredient identification challenges have been very popular on my social media channels, and I'm looking forward to introducing some similar themes in 2022. I'm also excited to expand the education-adjacent features in some new ways.  I'm also looking forward to bringing the Whatsit Wednesday content onto the site itself, as it's mostly resided on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to date.

Alright, I'm going to be vague here, because I don't want to bite off more than I can chew - but there's more fun stuff in the works. I'm looking forward to sharing some unique merch (which will help support the site - more on that below), some new site designs, and new features.  I'm also hoping to do some crossover content with other creators, so that's fun.

Finally, I just want to say that I always love hearing from readers, and I'd be delighted to hear about any new content/themes that you'd like to see moving forward!  The best way to get in touch AND to follow whatever's going on is to subscribe for emails and/or to follow me on social media.  You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

No ads. No banners, no roll-overs, no auto-playing videos.  And it's going to stay that way.

I keep Diversivore ad-free because I like it that way, and because I think it makes an important statement in this increasingly commercialized online world.  But this does come at a personal cost to me, as it makes it more difficult to operate the site and to make a living off of it.  I'm looking forward to introducing some new ways for you to support what I do in the future, but in the meantime there are a couple of options.

1. Buy Me A Coffee! Think of this like a virtual tip jar.  You can make one-time donations, or even set up ongoing payments if you like.  I know that not everyone can afford to dish out for the work I do here, but I do want you to know that even small amounts make a difference.
2. Use PUBLC to explore my content! PUBLC is a fairly new user-driven search engine that rewards content creators (like me) with cryptocurrency payments for the traffic we bring it.  You don't pay anything to use PUBLC - the revenue generated by engaging with content is simply shared with content creators.  This is in contrast to most search engines, which also generate revenue (through ads, brands, etc.), but return none of it to content creators.  You can check out all Diversivore posts on PUBLC here.

As I said, there is some new stuff in the works, including merch, bookshop recommendations, and more.  Stay tuned!

I do work with sponsors (which is, of course, always disclosed to you readers) - I especially like working with agricultural agencies and organizations that work directly with farmers and other ingredient-level producers. Over the past few years, I've been privileged to do a lot of work with the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board (BC Egg).  They've been a fantastic partner, and I'm thrilled to be able to work with the people who work hard to produce our food.  But now they, and all of the farmers in BC, could really use your help.

My home province of British Columbia was hammered by a series of catastrophic weather events in 2021.  We fared relatively well here on the coast, but many interior regions were impacted severely. An already difficult year was capped off in November, when massive rainfall caused devastating flooding in the heavily populated, agriculturally vital Fraser River Valley.  Many farms and homes were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of livestock animals were killed.  The recovery is not going to be quick or simple, and many farmers desperately need support.

2021 was a difficult year for me, and I know it was probably a tough year for you too.  We have the opportunity to support each other now.  This link will take you to a page set up by BC Egg to help support the myriad disaster relief efforts under way in the province.  If you can afford to help out, I hope you'll consider donating.

I know that nobody wants to hear the phrase "in these uncertain times" any more, but let's face it - the times are pretty damned uncertain.  I sincerely hope that 2022 is better to every single one of you, but simply hoping for the best isn't going cut it.  I know it's been difficult for most of us to handle the dumpster-fire that has been the last couple of years, but don't let it harden your heart.  We all need each other right now - even if we happen to be relative strangers.  Give $5 to a charity. Bake a loaf of bread for a neighbour.  Tell someone how much their art has meant to you.  Ask someone if they could use a helping hand.  It's all little stuff, but we all could use it right now.