Since Amazon started selling books online, it has gradually expanded its offerings to the general public. Going beyond typical retail items, Amazon now offers video streaming and web hosting.
But everything Amazon has done so far has been — in one way or another — about selling things (or delivering them, if you’re talking Amazon Prime). Not this.
If you go to Amazon.com, you’ll notice a banner promoting “Labor Day Grilling.” Naturally curious about things I see on the Internet, I clicked on it, expecting to see a sale on grills or tongs or hamburger buns. Instead, I was taken to a giant landing page that featured recipes. That’s right: not products, recipes!
And it’s not even those stealth recipe adverts you see on the side of a box of Ritz crackers or on epicurious.com. The recipes I’m talking about don’t offer any suggestions on what brands to buy or where to buy the ingredients. This seems to be an actual earnest attempt to help Amazon customers throw fun Labor Day parties.
The recipes here include grilled steak with tomatoes; grilled corn with herb butter; bruschetta with peas, goat cheese and herbs; seafood paella; summer sangria; shaved fennel, melon, serrano and watercress salad; shrimp and skirt steak tacos; pineapple, radish and avocado salsa; and raspberry tart.
That’s so many! The recipes are extensive and seem to be pretty good. I want to try all of them. I might actually try all of them. And if they turn out as good as they look, I’ll be checking back for the next batch of food options.
Alas, this is Amazon’s dastardly plan. If I start navigating to www.amazon.com to figure out what to make for dinner, then it’s game over. Amazon becomes the single most important site on the Internet, which is of course what they’ve wanted all along.