The genre of recipes is designed for people to share their knowledge and love of food with others. Although throughout the genre there are certain conventions that are followed, recipes are written in a variety of ways from a wide variety of authors and circumstances. For example, the book Good and Cheap by Leanna Brown, was written to give people the ability to eat healthy, tasty meals for under $5 a meal. Because of the economic downturn during this time of 2013 when this book was written, Leanna Brown caters specifically to a working-class audience or to anyone watching their money with the low prices of the ingredients. She maintains the same structure as most recipes (introduction, ingredients, cooking times, etc.), yet the premise of the cheap ingredients is what sets her apart.

Another important way that authors of recipes make themselves unique is through the commentary and descriptions that are given either in the introduction or in the steps of making the recipe. For example, in the recipe for “All Purpose Chili Lime Chicken” from Carlsbad Cravings, The author, “Jen”, shows her personality through phrases such as “A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!” and “until golden deliciousness is achieved”. These phrases are not phrases that are necessary to have in the recipe, yet from the amount of positive comments, the audience for this recipe loves the personality. Another example of this is through the historical background about Pesto by Hazan. Instead of showing his personality in the descriptions of the dish, Hazan describes the history of this dish, going in depth about its importance in Italian culture. Instead of cultivating a friendly environment for the audience as in the Chili Lime Chicken example, Hazan is stressing the cultural and historical themes that pesto has throughout Italy. He even talks about how certain chefs do not consider the dish “pesto” unless it is made with a mortar and pestle.

While these characteristics show the variety of purposes, authors, and audiences of recipes, all recipes have the same general structure. The recipe for Dunlop’s Gong Bao Chicken has a very generic and universal structure. It has an introduction to the dish, then the serving size as well as a list of ingredients and amounts, finally concluding with a step by step instruction manual on how to cook the dish. This recipe even has a picture of it in the beginning which is another very popular convention in the recipe genre. This Gong Bao Chicken recipe is a great example of a generic recipe layout that can be used by anyone and fitted to any recipe.

Despite the differences that recipes have, whether it be different authors, environments, or purposes, all recipes still have a similar structure and an overall similar goal: sharing the love of food with others.