Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly, such as when you create an account, submit a review, or subscribe to our newsletter:

• Email address (for account creation and newsletter)
• Display name (for reviews)
• Recipe reviews and ratings

We automatically collect certain information when you visit our site, including your IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide and improve our recipe platform
• To send weekly recipe newsletters (with your consent)
• To display your reviews on recipe pages
• To analyze site usage and improve performance

3. Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies and similar technologies. For details, see our Cookie Policy.

We store your theme preference (light/dark mode) in your browser's localStorage under the key "theme". This is classified as a strictly necessary functional preference — it does not track you, is not shared with third parties, and requires no consent under GDPR Recital 47 and ePrivacy Directive Article 5(3). You can clear this at any time by clearing your browser's local storage or site data.

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

• Google Analytics (GA4) — for anonymous site usage analytics
• YouTube API — for embedding recipe videos
• Newsletter service — for email delivery

Each of these services has its own privacy policy governing their use of your data.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time from your account settings, or by contacting us at privacy@kochen.cool.

6. Your Rights (GDPR)

Under GDPR, you have the following rights:

• Right of Access (Art. 15) — you can download all your data from your account settings as a JSON file.
• Right to Rectification (Art. 16) — update your name and email from account settings.
• Right to Erasure (Art. 17) — delete your account and all associated personal data from account settings.
• Right to Withdraw Consent (Art. 7) — opt out of the newsletter at any time via the unsubscribe link in any email we send, or by contacting us.
• Right to Data Portability (Art. 20) — export your data in machine-readable JSON format (see Right of Access above).

7. Contact

For privacy-related questions, contact us at: privacy@kochen.cool