Yes, I am a huge fan of dish-of-the-whatever (except for the part about trying to use up all that tamarind paste/dried galangal/torch ginger). But I am also a huge fan of restaurants.
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I didnât spend much time on that site, so if it was one guy he must have been a prolific poster. His style reminded me of a guy I knew in high school (whose vocabulary has, I hope, improved over the decades 
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I feel seen 
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Very prolific, until 2015, when he disappeared (or was disappeared). Donât click on the below link unless you want to be reminded of your high school friend.
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I donât think I used the term âfriendâ . . . but that sounds about right.
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I couldnât think of a better term that was one word (Iâm lazy). Suggestions welcome.
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That âKevin synopsisâ was rather amusing. Either he is 13 and has just leaned a âbadâ word or he has failed to understand the purpose of cursing and has instead used the F- word as a verbal crutch to show his âauthenticityâ.
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I think as with most things, we gravitate towards what we are most interested in.
In early and peak Chowhound days (âfrom the beginningâ), I ate out a ton, cooked at home occasionally, and my reading and participating was entirely on the eating out threads. I also ate very well on trips, guided by members in other cities.
In later Chowhound days, when I had more time to cook (and more interest in recreating some of what I ate out), I âdiscoveredâ the very active home cooking boards (wfd, baking, wmp, the monthly cook-along threads) that had existed for a long time, but away from my perusal of the site. Those kinds of threads / community are struggling a bit here as many regulars didnât want to move, or recreated smaller versions of them on facebook.
There are books for cooking, yes, but there are also reviews and blogs for where to eat.
We come here because we enjoy talking about all of it, with others, ad nauseum.
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âKevinâ was (and may still be) a professional restaurant reviewer/critic.
He used that writing style to remain anonymous.
Heâs actually quite a very good writer in real life.
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That was a hell of a Fân disguise! LOL!
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Iâve got no beef with Kevinâs language choices, but I doubt he was so very famous that not using âthat writing styleâ would have outed him.
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sounds like somebody who works in a professional kitchen!
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That makes a certain kind of twisted sense! LOL! But I wonder why he had the seeming fixation with the one word? Interesting.
I thought it was a crutch but it was an affectation of sorts.
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I remember talking that way for a brief spell when a freshman in college (coming to it later in life than that high school friend; I guess. people didnt talk that way in my central Ohio hometown!
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HO is about the right pace for me. Enough info, stay up on trends and nothing breathless, dramatic or competitive. Also, I slowed down on food consumption for health, diagnosed as diabetic in 2018. Instead of taking meds and going down that path, I decided to lose the weight and change diet, do more exercise. I lost about 50 lbs in about 18-20 months and itâs now considered in remission, so no meds.
Although I think the near complete personal ban on HFCS was just as important. Research shows HFCS blocks insulin productionâŚbut âregularâ sugar not as much. The pandemic sort of sealed the deal and I used isolation and restrictions to my benefit. I still keep a list of places to try but I rarely bother unless going with friends, visitors.
Example: Horn BBQ has been on the list forever but never have gone because; a) wonât wait in a 2 hour line, so b) so ordering poundage to avoid the line and get a pick up time makes more sense. Some time Iâll go when I have 4-6 friends who want to go. Iâm sure it will be greatâŚbut if notâŚwhatever. Iâve had enough food fun in my life.
Also avoid looking at âfood pornâ videos. Research has shown watching it makes you hungryâŚlike duh. HO at this pace fills the gap but easier to regulate.
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The singular most incomparable aspect on Chowhound could be found in General Topics.
I remember one thread about eggs that contained posts from an egg farmer, a nutritionist, a food scientist, people who cooked in professional kitchens that took mandatory food safety courses, and egg-shoppers from Europe and the US, where there is a difference on how they are processed and sold. There was also talk of which cuisines used raw eggs.
Chowhound afforded that kind of coverage on many food-related topics.
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I didnât particularly care for Kevin dropping the F word every two seconds for no reason. A real turnoff. On the other hand, he seemed pretty harmless/a nice guy. He never hurt my feelings.
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I didnât mine Kevin . I just saw him as a act with good writing.
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By the time I got there, Iâm not sure when, maybe 2013-ish? (anyway, much less tenure than most of you who were there 20 years) the whatâs for dinner, weekly meal plan, cookbook, etc. boards were pretty much in full swing with many daily threads/comments.
I did skim the regional boards and they were, like you say, 90% or so eating. But although I never did any analytic comparison, there were certainly an awful lot of cooking oriented posts to keep me occupied. I think I was there until 2019 give/take, but forget exactly when I got mad about moderation and quit reading/posting there.
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