Jennifer Lee

My name is Jennifer Lee and I’m the founder of the food blog Kirbie’s Cravings. I started Kirbie’s Cravings fourteen years ago in order to connect with others who share a passion for food and cooking. Over the years I’ve shared thousands of recipes on my site.

What I love about being a food content creator is the personalization. I’ve always loved how powerful and universal food is. It connects people, creates memories, heals, nourishes and brings comfort and joy. What keeps me motivated to continue to create is hearing the stories of how one of my recipes impacted someone’s life. For example, a grandmother telling me how her grandson with a severe egg allergy was finally able to enjoy a normal birthday cake for the first time when making my eggless birthday cake recipe. Or a widower telling me that he uses my recipes to find inspiration to cook again. I feel privileged to be able to reach and connect with people I would not have otherwise ever met. 

The current use of AI and changes to search algorithms this year have impacted small business content creators like myself. But it goes beyond that. I believe these changes are negatively impacting anyone who is searching for a recipe. What makes a food blog site like mine unique over a general site that is randomly pulling or copying recipes from the internet is the personalization and trust. When I create a recipe, I have my readers’ interest in mind. This helps determine the ingredients I choose, the substitutions I test, how sweet or savory I make the recipe. I put in a lot of time and resources to make sure my recipes are thoroughly tested and can be trusted. 

I understand that technology is always changing and I do see many ways that AI can help and improve the content we are sharing. However I don’t think AI should be replacing what content creators have built. I hope in the future we can find a better balance, allowing AI to enhance and help but not replace the personal connections.