The Umami Post has no parent company, no institutional backer, and no advertising.
How We're Funded
We accept no advertising, no sponsored content, no brand partnerships, and no funding from organizations with interests in our coverage areas. The Umami Post is supported entirely by readers -- cooks who read what we publish and decide it's worth keeping alive.
That's the whole model. No tiers, no paywalls, no members-only content. Every recipe and every story is free to read. Reader support keeps the operation independent and the recipes free under Creative Commons.
Where Your Support Goes
Support given to the publication covers operating costs: hosting and infrastructure, the occasional kitchen testing budget, photography for guest-submitted recipes that arrive without it, archival and software subscriptions, and small fees we pay contributors. A consistent readership willing to chip in is what makes it possible to turn down anything that would compromise editorial independence.
Support given directly to individual cooks goes entirely to those cooks. Contributors manage their own reader support through their own accounts; the publication does not take a cut. Tips through a cook's link are the most direct way to thank someone whose recipe earned its place on your weekly rotation.
Two Ways to Support
The Publication
Support The Umami Post
Contributions to the publication fund its operating costs: hosting, testing, photography, and contributor fees. No portion goes to individual authors -- this is the operating fund.
Individual Authors
Support a Contributor
Cooks who accept reader support do so through their own accounts. The publication receives nothing from these tips -- 100% goes directly to the cook. Look for the support badge on any recipe byline or cook profile.
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A larger readership makes this publication more visible and more sustainable. Subscribing by email is free and genuinely useful.
Other ways to help
Cook the recipes and tell us how it went. If something failed in your kitchen, we want to know. If something worked beautifully, we want to know that too. Recipe corrections and variations are how the next cook avoids the same mistake.
Share specific pieces. When a recipe or story is worth passing along, send it to one person who would find it genuinely useful. Not broadcast, targeted. The recipe landing in the right kitchen is worth more than a hundred passive impressions.
Link to us. If you write, blog, or maintain any kind of online presence, linking to pieces you found valuable is how independent publications build the search presence that brings new readers.
Write a Cook's Letter. Reader correspondence published in the Cook's Letters section is part of the publication's editorial content. A thoughtful response to something we've published contributes to the work directly. Write a letter.
Submit a recipe. The most direct way to keep this publication going is to send us a recipe you stand behind. Submit one.
Tell us what we're missing. The best editorial tip is a story or technique that matters and isn't being covered. Send us a tip.
The Umami Post does not accept advertising, sponsored content, affiliate fees, or funding from organizations with interests in our coverage areas. Reader support is the only kind we take. Individual cooks process their own support independently; the publication does not take a percentage.
No ads. No sponsors. No paywalls.
Funded entirely by readers
The Umami Post runs on direct reader contributions and the unpaid time of its contributors, not advertising or platform deals. Reader tips go either to the publication’s operating costs (hosting, public-records fees, the occasional travel for reporting) or, when sent through an author’s individual link, directly to that writer. We take no money from advertisers, sponsors, partner networks, or syndication platforms.
What publication-level support pays for: hosting and infrastructure, public-records and FOIA fees, archival and software costs, and the occasional reporting expense. Itemised on the costs page.
How contributors are compensated: The Umami Post does not currently pay contributors a fee or salary. Writers publish here because they want their work read; reader tips through a writer’s individual link are the only compensation they receive for a piece.
What this funding model doesn’t include: ads, sponsorships, native content, tracking pixels, paywalls, or syndication-network fees. There are none, and editorial decisions are not influenced by individual reader contributions.