Lovely post that truly registers with me. Thanks.
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Chowhoundās āforeignā forums were always geared to the needs of the North American tourist. For example, contributions to the UK forum were, pretty much, North Americans asking where to eat in London. And getting replies from other North Americans suggesting the same places that had been suggested the time before. And the time before. And theā¦
It was why I generally preferred eGullet. Although fewer contributions than CH, these were mainly posts from fellow Britons and, perhaps more to the point, these were folk eating right across the country. As such, it was a far more valuable resource.
Not long after, CH was bought by CNET, I was contacted by one of their senior executives who asked for advice about how CH might expand to become a significant site for Britons and other Europeans. It was a question Iād already thought about and gave it some more considered and detailed consideration. I came up with a fairly detailed set of suggestions which I sent off to the exec. She thanked me and that was the last I heard. And, almost needless to say, CH never did anything to appeal to those of us on the eastern side of the Atlantic.
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I beg to slightly differ. I was active on CH probably from around circa 2008 onwards. The UK board was quite London-centric, true, but not completely geared to tourists from North America. I still remember very useful contributions from CHers limster and JFores. I even went to a lunch organised by limster and met some London-based CHs there. I wonder where those guys are now.
Sadly, this article is behind a paywall.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, I found the views generally expressed by both to be the antipathy of my own take on food. I really didnt like their online personas. They were actually significant reasons why I drifted away from CH to eGullet.
By the by, my companion in life was gifted a subscription to Vittles at Xmas. Iāll see if she can pull up the article so I can ācut and pasteā if needed.
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I could have phrased that better. I meant that CNET never acted on any of my suggestions, nor implemented any ideas of their own to expand CHās influence in Europe.
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E Gullet was far the best forum in the day. Interesting, informative and most of all knowledgeable with a professional background.
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Unfortunately, We canāt find a way to dodge round the paywall, so I canāt provide a link to the Vittles article. I have read it. Basically comments from several people about the development of CHās UK board. Justin Fores is a contributor, as is limster. I recognise a couple of British names - Jay Rayner and Tom Hayward - both of whom say their presence on CH was brief and they scooted off to eGullet. Other names are not known to me. My summary of the overview of the article is that the contributions to CH, by the likes of JFores and limster, changed Londonās restaurant eating habits.
Iāll not comment further as one shouldnt speak ill of the dead.
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I donāt recall being put off by their online personas. Perhaps I was an abrasive Londoner like them! There are a few characters on HO I donāt care for much but I just try and participate in a way that works for me.
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I got the impression CNET never found a way to monetise CH the way they had hoped to. I joined after the CNET takeover and I didnāt engage with most of the website content, just stuck to the few boards that were interesting to me.
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of course. There were some classic fights and a lot of irritation but it was mostly about food love, if not always people love. On Reddit it seems like there is a lot of other stuff going including a much higher quotient of people trying to score points, tired sounding sarcasm, off topic purity tests etc not to mention a lower level of knowledge. Real people on chowhound tho not everyone used their real name.
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jfores was active in NYC before London. I never met him, I am sure others here have, but he always struck me as a serious food nerd. That personality may not appeal to everyone but he was enthusiastic about the search for good food. Limster also generated great info but as you note CH activity in UK and Europe really petered out after a while.. My experience in London looks back to the pre-internet day where TimeOut had a serious fat London guide and exploring - for a brief experience on expense account - and on several others on our own dime - was a great pleasure, even with young children in tow. I had my first experience with Malaysian food in Soho, for example as well as several experiences with different indian cuisines in the early 80s - and and the interest in Malaysian/Singapore cooking was what really hooked me into the chowhound community 15 years later.
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Yeah, itās always been a highly North American centered discussion board (after being a highly NYC-centered discussion board).
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Reddit is lawless, and half of the people are only there to pick fights or be assholes.
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The handful of Toronto eGulleters that I met, who were my age, became more active on Chowhound around 2007, after another Toronto Chowhound hosted a potluck that summer.
I had met several eGulleters at a joint Chowhound and eGulleter dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant in March 2007, that I helped organize. Seoul House. My first taste of Korean food and Galbi. I wore a fuschia lycra top that absorbed all the delicious scents from what we were eating, and I felt like a walking garlic ginger soy pomander when I went to a friendās 40th birthday later that night. 
One started posting on a short-lived food blog called TasteToronto (or something like that), before launching her freelance career.
Both eGulleters I know well were very involved with Flickr. Photographs of meals on Flickr were as much of a thing as posts on Chowhound for some friends. A few of the eGulleters and Chowhounds I knew posted every meal they ordered and everything they baked, on Flickr, in those years.
Some moved their food journaling to Facebook or Instagram, I am guessing, around 2013.
The other eGulleter I knew is now a moderator for Redditās FoodToronto, which I find is a good Reddit forum, as long as you ignore the people who attack if you post about tipping. There are a few others who keep putting down the same handful restaurants over and over again, and will attack if you post anything positive about the restaurants. The third subset of cranky Toronto Food Redditors think they can make a replica of whatever is offered at a restaurant for 1/4 to 1/10 of the restaurant price. āBLT in downtown Toronto for $12? outrageous! I can make this or an even better BLT at home for $0.73!ā When a loaf of bread costs $4, a head of iceberg lettuce coats $4, a piece of bacon costs $0.25-$0.75 (my sandwich yesterday had at least 4 pieces of streaky bacon, when I only use 2 slices at home), and tomatoes go for $2.99/lb in Toronto Feb 2026. I will calculate the cost of my at- home BLT one of these days.
Some former Toronto Hounds who donāt post here continue to use their old Chowhound handles on Reddit.
I reactivated my eGullet account in the winter. There isnāt much in terms of a Canadian presence now. The baking forum still has a nice group of bakers.
I just popped in for a hot second afterā¦ several years? Itās almost exclusively CA/LA 
Thank goodness this forum has a much broader range of regional boards & topics.
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I have the same complaint about the Quebec board. The Quebec board on CH had some actual Quebeckers participating which was really handy when I went to Montreal for a visit - nothing like getting recommendations from the locals. Now most of the participants are North Americans asking other North Americans where to eat and getting the same answers.
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Hey, at least yāall have your own board. Germanyās just part of āRest of Europeā and barely gets any traffic.
And the lack of content for Philly is downright shameful.
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Montreal Food Reddit has become a place to ask locals more questions, and a place where locals ask local questions and provide tips .
I really like the posts from @Captcrunch and @lagatta , both on Chowhound and here on HO.
They do not post here anymore. Not enough community has been built to keep the local conversation going.
We also lost our Prairie posters here on HO over the past 10 years.
The Vancouver-based posters I invited to post on HO post very little. I am in contact with a few through Instagram.
Vancouver and other BC posts on HO are mostly made by visitors.
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I am following the Montreal subreddit so I shall add the Montreal Food subreddit to my list. I am disappointed to see how few CHers migrated over to the regional boards on HO although I am glad to see the Ontario board still active. I used to visit Toronto once a year before the pandemic and I am hoping to resume my visits next year. Iām still sorting out paperwork to buy back years of service so I can hopefully retire this year but there are a lot of hoops to jump through. Iām sorry to see Spadina Gardens closed but there seems to be lots of hakka places in Toronto and itās hard to find in Ottawa. I also look forward to discovering some new favourites.
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Some former Toronto Chowhounds no longer like posting on Bulletin Boards.
I suspect there are new Hakka spots in the Burbs of Ottawa, in strip plazas.
We went from having no Hakka options in LdnOnt in 2020, to around 3 places in 2022. There are at least 2 dozen Hakka spots in LdnOnt in 2026.
The family who owned Spadina Gardens is associated with another Szechuan Gourmet near Bathurst and Steeles, 10 km nw of downtown.
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