Inspiration
Living in a hostel away from my family, food quickly became a challenge. I often found myself missing not just the taste of home-cooked meals, but also the comfort and connection they carried. That feeling inspired me to build a platform where people can share and preserve family recipes, so no matter where you are, you can still feel closer to home through food.
What it does
From Our Table is a recipe sharing app designed as a digital family cookbook. Users can create recipes, add ingredients and instructions, and most importantly share the family stories and cultural heritage behind each dish. It allows people to discover authentic recipes from other families, while keeping their own traditions alive.
How we built it
The app was built with Next.js, React, and Tailwind CSS on the frontend, with Supabase handling authentication, the database, and real-time updates. Google OAuth makes sign-in easy, and the UI uses a handwritten-style font and warm colors to create the feeling of personal recipe cards. Development combined both no-code tools and custom coding to move quickly while keeping flexibility.
Challenges we ran into
One of the biggest challenges was implementing row level security in Supabase to ensure that users could only edit their own recipes. Another challenge was managing real-time updates so likes and new recipes appeared instantly for everyone. Balancing scope with time was also difficult since I wanted to add more features but had to focus on finishing a polished MVP.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I am proud that the app captures more than just food. It highlights memories, family connections, and culture. On the technical side, I am proud of achieving smooth real-time updates, a clean authentication flow, and a responsive design that works beautifully across devices.
What we learned
This project taught me how powerful it can be to combine technical features with emotional storytelling. I learned a lot about Supabase real-time features, authentication, and PWA setup. I also learned to balance using AI-assisted coding tools with my own problem-solving as a software engineer.
What's next for From Our Table
The next steps are to add support for photos and videos, enable comments and discussions around recipes, and build group cookbooks for families. In the future, I would like to expand it into a global community where people can share and preserve food traditions from around the world.
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