The BBC Are Set To Cull Their Online Recipes And People Are Not Happy
The BBC plans to cull its recipes section in a cost cutting exercise [kaboompics.com via Pexels]
Need a recipe for a twice baked New York cheesecake? Chances are you’ll find it with a quick scroll on BBC Food. But not for much longer. It’s a sad day for anyone who’s ever turned to the online recipe bible to pep up their dinner party skills. In a cost-cutting exercise the Beeb is culling more than 11,000 recipes from its website. Yep, really. And it doesn’t end there. Recipes shown on TV programmes will only stay online for 30 days, rather than being available forever more as they are now. Nooooooo!
The decision hasn’t gone down well with wannabe foodies who’ve taken to social media to vent their upset.
“80% of my cooking knowledge has come from #bbcrecipes. Removing them is such a backward step,” one woman wrote.
“#bbcrecipes being taken down feels like a kid having a strop and taking their ball home just to be mean and stop the other kids playing,” wrote another
Recipes by Bake Off favourite Mary Berry will be scrapped [Photo: Rex Features]
“Surely @BBC there’s a better way of cost saving than removing a valuable free resource from people #bbcrecipes,” another disappointed fan added.
“Gutted they’re disappearing! They regularly save my bacon. #bbcrecipes,” one woman added simply.
Some fans are so upset by the prospect of losing the archive they have set up a Change.org petition in a bid to save the recipe collection and since launching earlier this week it has already attracted more than 25,000 signatures.
“This is a much-loved and used website and a precious resource for people across the country, providing easy, free and importantly independent information on a vast range of foods and recipe options,” Emma B, who set up the petition, wrote.
“When the Government is trying to promote healthy eating, surely it is madness to remove such a comprehensive archive which has taken years to create – not to mention time and money.”
People have pointed out that scrapping a free source of healthy recipes could affect obesity [Photo: pixabay.com via Pexels]
The move is part of a wider plan to save around £15 million. “While our audience expect us to be online,” a spokesperson said, “we have never sought to be all things to all people and the changes being announced will ensure that we are not.”
Last week celebrity chef Jack Monroe pledged to publish her recipes online in response to the removal of the BBC archive. In a Facebook post, she wrote: “I learned to cook on the dole using free recipes online and for the BBC to reduce this vital service is an abomination…
“I hope I can go some way to filling the gap left for free, instructional, simple recipe resources and cookery guidance, which is vital for so many people. I was always advised by my publishers not to give too much away, and I always defied them.
“Despite over half of my first book being available online, it was a bestseller. Because those that can buy cookbooks, generally do.”
In response to the proposed cuts Jack Monroe has offered to make her recipes available online [Photo: Rex Features]
Other celebrities have also stepped forward to express their anger at the move. Author, Joanne Harris took to Twitter to write: “Obesity is linked to poverty. Lack of education is linked to poverty. Solution: save money by reducing access to free, healthy recipes.”
But is the BBCs hand being forced? The move could be attributed as a response to Government pressure placed on the BBC to cut its reach. Last summer, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, spoke out about the BBC overreaching in areas like recipes. “If you’ve got a website that’s got features and cooking recipes – effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper as well as the national broadcaster,” he said.
“You wouldn’t want the BBC to completely crowd out national newspapers. The BBC website… is becoming a bit more imperial in its ambitions.”
While we can hope the thousands of disgruntled fans expressing their dismay online may go some way in encouraging a U-turn, just in case the Beeb sticks to it’s recipe wrecking guns, we’d better get cracking on the stockpiling now. How do you do a screen grab again?
How do you feel about the BBC’s plan to scrap the recipes? Let us know @YahooStyleUK
