Scripps Howard News Service

Save room for 2 new food sites
By Michael Hastings

The Internet is full of food sites, but the founders of two sites are hoping that it isn't quite stuffed yet.

Chow.com and bakespace.com both deal with food and offer free memberships, but the similarities just about end there.

Babette Pepaj, a television producer and director in Los Angeles, started bakespace.com in late August to create a "grass-roots" site for amateur cooks like herself. The key to its appeal is the interactive design, which encourages like-minded cooks to make friends over the Internet. Bakespace, Pepaj said, is her take on the Internet social-networking concept pioneered by myspace.com, and it attracted 2,500 members in its first 30 days.

Once you register, you become a "chef." You can enter recipes. You can assemble a virtual cookbook of other members' recipes. You also can ask other members to become your friends or "kitchen helpers." When other members view a recipe of yours, they will be given suggestions about other members' recipes. You can also create a network where you can send messages to all your bakespace friends. Members can share their recipes and rate others'.

Despite the name, the site is not limited to baking. It has tons of main dishes, salads, soups and just about everything else, too.

Other sections deal with community events, grocery-store coupons, members' cooking tips, and restaurant and cookbook reviews. A chat room is in the planning stages.

In short, Bakespace is one big recipe swap that's driven by passionate amateur cooks. The site is easy to use, and it's full of dishes that everyday cooks might actually want to make. The space may be virtual, but the food is real.