Privacy

Most of what you build on this site — your pantry, meal plans, saved recipes, shopping list, cooking journal, quiz progress and passport — is stored in your own browser, on your own device. It never reaches us. If you clear your browser data, it is gone, including from our side, because we never had a copy.

What does reach our servers is small: your account details if you create an account, anything you deliberately publish such as a photo or review, and optional feature-usage events if you turn those on. We do not sell your data and we do not run ads. Google Analytics counts page visits (measurement ID G-1XF3EVT1F8) so we can see which pages are used. There are no advertising or social pixels.

I Want Some Food, based in Australia, runs this site and is responsible for the personal information described here. We handle it under the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). For privacy questions and requests, email hello@iwantsomefood.com.

This is the unusual part, so it is worth being precise. The following live in your browser's local storage on the device you are using:

• your pantry, and the results of any fridge scan you confirm;
• saved and recently viewed recipes, and your shopping list;
• meal plans and planner settings;
• your cooking journal, passport stamps, achievements and quiz progress;
• preferences such as units, theme, and your cookie choice.

We cannot read any of it. It is not backed up, so it does not follow you to another device or survive clearing your browser. You can export your cooking journal or wipe all of it from the “Your data” panel in Settings. For the full list of what is stored and why, see what gets stored on your device.

Account details. Only if you create an account: your email address, your display name, a profile image if your sign-in provider supplies one, a securely hashed password if you signed up with email, the sign-in method you used and the time you last signed in. We use this to sign you in, keep your account secure and contact you about the account itself. Without it we cannot give you an account.

Things you publish. Photos of food you cooked, reviews, comments, tips and recipe drafts you submit, along with the account they came from and the moderation decision. We store these so we can show them to other people, which is the point of posting them.

Page visits — Google Analytics. Every page load sends a page view to Google Analytics (G-1XF3EVT1F8). Google may store cookies or a similar identifier on your device and will see your IP address, browser type and the page you opened. We use this to understand which pages are visited, not to show you ads.

Feature usage — off unless you say yes. If you allow it on the banner, we also record counted events like “recipe viewed” or “cook started” in our own database. They are not tied to a name or an advertising profile. If you say no, or ignore the banner, those feature events are not sent. You can change your mind at any time from Settings.

AI requests. What you ask Chef, and the ingredients extracted from a fridge photo, are processed to answer you. Fridge photos are used to identify ingredients and then discarded — we do not keep the image, and it is never shown publicly. See how we use AI.

Technical logs. Like every website, our hosting and database providers keep short-lived server logs that can include an IP address, browser type and the page requested. We use these to keep the site up and to spot abuse, not to build a profile of you.

Emails you send us. If you contact us, we keep the message and our reply so we can deal with it and remember what was agreed.

To run the site and the features you asked for; to keep accounts secure and moderate what gets published; to answer you when you get in touch; to understand which parts of the site are worth improving (only with your consent); and to meet legal obligations such as responding to a copyright complaint.

We do not use your information for advertising, we do not sell or rent it, and we do not make automated decisions about you that have a legal effect.

We keep the list of outside parties as short as we can. It is honest to say the site could not exist without them:

• our hosting provider, which serves the site and holds server logs, and our database provider, which stores the PostgreSQL database behind accounts and published content;
• our image storage provider, for community photos you upload;
• Google Analytics, which receives page-visit data as described above;
• Google, if you choose to sign in with a Google account — they tell us your email address and name, and they know you signed in;
• an AI provider (currently OpenAI, where it is configured) for the text of an AI request and any fridge photo being processed;
• our email provider, when we reply to you.

They act on our instructions and are not allowed to use your information for their own marketing. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or where it is needed to protect someone's safety or our legal rights.

Some of those providers store or process data outside Australia, most likely in the United States or Europe, depending on the region the service runs in. Where that happens we take reasonable steps to make sure the information is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, but by using the site you accept that it may be handled overseas. If you want to know where a particular piece of your data sits, ask us and we will tell you.

Account details stay while your account is open. Photos and reviews stay while they are published, and we keep a record of moderation decisions for a reasonable period afterwards so we can deal with repeat problems and complaints. Usage statistics are kept in an aggregated form and are not linked back to an individual. Emails are kept while the matter is open and for a reasonable period after. Fridge photos are not kept at all. When information is no longer needed and we are not required to keep it, we delete it or de-identify it.

You can:

• edit your profile, and export or delete everything stored on your device, from Settings;
• delete a photo or review you posted;
• email hello@iwantsomefood.com to ask for a copy of what we hold about you, to have something corrected, or to delete your account and the content attached to it.

We will confirm we received your request quickly and aim to answer within 30 days. There is no charge. We may ask you to confirm your identity first — usually by replying from the email address on the account. If we cannot do what you asked, for example where we must keep a moderation or copyright record, we will explain why.

Passwords are stored hashed, never in readable form. Access to the database is limited to the people who need it to run the site. Traffic is encrypted in transit. No system is perfect, so if a breach happens that is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

This site is not designed for children and we do not target them. Community features are for adults 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child without a parent or guardian's involvement — if you believe we have, email hello@iwantsomefood.com and we will delete it.

We use a small number of items stored in your browser, a sign-in cookie if you have an account, and Google Analytics cookies for page measurement. There are no advertising cookies. What gets stored on your device lists every one.

Tell us first: email hello@iwantsomefood.com with what happened and what you would like us to do. We will look into it and reply, normally within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), the regulator for privacy in Australia. They can be reached at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992. The OAIC usually expects you to raise it with us first.

If we start collecting something new, or change who it is shared with, we will update this page and the date at the top. Where the change is significant we will say so on the site rather than relying on you noticing.