Last updated September 4, 2026

Privacy Policy

Come & Dine is a family recipe website. Most of the cookbook is available only to invited family members, while a small number of recipes may be shared publicly.

Information we use

For invited family members, the website uses account information such as name, email address, password credentials managed by WordPress, sign-in cookies, tutorial completion, favorite recipes, recently viewed recipes, drafts, and recipe contributions. Family members may also choose to add recipes, stories, photographs, videos, and other family memories.

The Contact & Recipe Corrections form asks for a name, reply email address, request type, optional recipe link, and message. The form emails that information privately to the cookbook administrator; it does not publish the message as website content.

Public and family visibility

Recipes marked Public can be viewed and indexed by anyone. Public contributor names are shortened to a first name and last initial. Recipes marked Family only require an invited family account. Recipes marked Only visible to me are limited to their owner in the family interface, although site administrators retain technical access needed to operate the website.

Short-lived family activity

The family-only “Who’s Cooking?” panel shows the name and most recent cookbook activity of signed-in members who were active within the previous seven days. When a member is viewing a recipe that another member may see, the panel can show that recipe’s title and link. Titles of recipes marked Only visible to me are not revealed to other family members. This activity signal is not shown to signed-out visitors.

The family activity journal records a limited history of newly published recipes, family versions or memories, signed-in comments, recipes added to favorites, and deliberate family-member mentions. A mention notification is visible only to the family member who was tagged and links to a recipe that person is permitted to view. Personal-only recipes cannot tag other family members. The general journal is visible only to signed-in family members, excludes a member’s own actions from that member’s feed, and checks recipe and contribution visibility before showing each title. Anonymous star ratings are never included.

Shared family editing

Any signed-in family member can edit a recipe marked Visible to my family or Available to anybody on the internet. Recipe updates may appear in the private Family activity journal, and WordPress can retain revision history for recovery and administration. Recipes marked Only visible to me and private drafts remain available only to their owner and site administrators. A collaborator cannot move another member’s shared recipe into a private shelf.

Recipe marks

Signed-in family members can attach a highlight, crossed-out treatment, or margin note to an ingredient or direction. These marks are stored separately from the recipe, so they do not alter the shared recipe wording. A member’s personal layer is on by default and their marks are private by default; the member can turn the layer off for a clean recipe view. A member may choose to share an individual mark with signed-in family members and may later edit or remove their own mark. A relative can be tagged inside a margin note only after the writer explicitly agrees to share that individual mark with the family. The tagged relative then receives a private notification and may receive an optional email linking to that exact marked recipe line. The interface indicates only deliberately shared family marks—never private marks from another account. Recipe marks, their authors, tags, and contents are never shown to signed-out visitors. Marks on a recipe marked Only visible to me cannot be shared or used to notify another family member.

Family recipe requests

A signed-in family member can ask another active family member to add a recipe. Before sending, the website searches recipes the requester is permitted to see and shows possible matches so an unnecessary request can be avoided. If the requester confirms that none is right, the website stores the recipe name, optional personal note, requester, recipient, date, and delivery status privately with the recipient’s account and asks the configured email provider to deliver an Add Recipe link. The request is not published or shown to other family members. It leaves the recipient’s pending list after that recipient publishes the requested recipe.

Recipes clipped from other websites

When a signed-in member pastes a recipe-page link, the website securely requests that public page and looks for structured recipe information such as the title, ingredients, directions, timing, servings, recipe categories, and the page’s declared main recipe photograph. It does not copy the surrounding article story. When a supported photograph is available, Come & Dine validates the image, stores a protected local copy as the proposed cover, and shows it in the editable draft so the member can keep, replace, or remove it before saving. The original page address and source name remain attached for attribution. The photograph follows the saved recipe’s visibility, and publishing it to the internet requires the member’s public-sharing confirmation.

Smart cookbook labels

While a member types or reviews a scanned or web-clipped recipe, the website can compare its title, ingredients, directions, and notes with a fixed cookbook-label vocabulary. Clear matches may be added to the editable form automatically; possible matches require the member to choose them. This comparison happens on the Come & Dine website and is not sent to an outside AI service.

If monthly label care is enabled, the website performs the same conservative comparison across published recipes. It may add a missing label only when an approved rule finds clear recipe evidence. It does not remove existing labels, change recipe wording, or create arbitrary label names.

Ratings and comments

Signed-in family members may rate recipes from one to five stars. The website stores a site-protected token with each rating so a member can update their own vote, but it does not display who selected a particular rating. Visitors see only the average and total number of family votes.

Family members can mark a recipe comment Family only or Public. Public family-member names are shortened to a first name and last initial. Signed-out visitors may submit a name and comment on a public recipe without providing an email address; those comments remain hidden until an administrator approves them. A temporary, one-way network identifier is used to limit automated or repeated submissions, and the website does not store the visitor's network address with the comment.

Media and the original cookbook

Family-only recipe media and the original printed cookbook PDF are stored locally in protected website storage. Public visitors are not given their private file addresses. When media is removed from a recipe, it may remain in protected recovery storage for up to 30 days before automatic deletion.

Optional AI recipe scanning

When the improved photo reader is configured, a signed-in family member can choose to send selected photographs or image-only PDF pages to OpenAI for recipe transcription. The website asks for confirmation before each group of pages is sent. It does not include the member's name or email address in the request, requests that the response not be stored as application state, and does not add the scanned pages to the WordPress Media Library. The resulting recipe remains an editable, unsaved draft until the family member reviews and submits it.

OpenAI states that API data is not used to train its models unless the API customer explicitly opts in. Standard API requests may still be retained for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring unless stronger account-level data controls apply. See OpenAI's current API data controls.

Cookies and security

The website uses cookies needed for sign-in, security, and saved account sessions. Reasonable technical safeguards are used to protect private recipes and files, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security.

Sharing and service providers

Come & Dine does not sell or rent personal information. The website host, email-delivery provider, and—only when a family member affirmatively uses the improved scanner—OpenAI may process limited information needed to provide their respective services and protect them from abuse.

When new-recipe emails are enabled, the configured email-delivery provider sends joined family members a brief preview after a new Family or Public recipe is published. The person who added it is excluded, and personal recipes, drafts, edits, comments, favorites, and family versions do not send email. Private family cover photographs are not exposed to external email-image services.

When “A Taste from Home” is enabled, the provider sends one recipe suggestion on the 1st and 15th of each month. The website uses that member's saved favorites to favor similar cookbook categories, cuisines, ingredients, contributors, and preparation times. If there is not enough preference information, it selects a highly rated or frequently favorited family recipe. Suggestions exclude personal recipes, avoid recently suggested recipes when alternatives are available, and never expose private family cover photographs to external email-image services.

When a signed-in member deliberately tags another joined family member in a recipe story or notes, comment, family version, or shared Recipe Mark, the website creates a private in-cookbook notification and may ask the configured email provider to send that person one message containing the sender’s name, recipe title, short excerpt, and recipe link. While the member writes, the website compares the name being typed with joined family display names and offers a suggestion; nobody is tagged until the writer selects that suggestion or chooses the person from the tag picker. A tagged Recipe Mark also requires explicit approval to share that mark with the family. Duplicate tags in the same addition create only one notification. Mention emails can be turned off without disabling private in-cookbook mention notifications.

Your choices

Family members can choose each recipe’s visibility and can turn mention emails, the daily new-recipe digest, or twice-monthly suggestions on or off from the Family activity panel. They can also request corrections, account help, or removal of information. Use the private Contact & Recipe Corrections form to reach the cookbook administrator.