This article was written by Samuel Phineas Upham

When Tim Berners-Lee introduced the concept of the Web in 1990, it set the stage for much of the information access we have today. You can basically find the answer to anything if you understand how to ask a search engine.

It’s also important to understand that the Internet, in many ways, was the bi-product of the Cold War era. It was meant as a tool for defense institutions to communicate efficiently, then became an economic and social game-changer. No one really planned for this to happen, which is why the earliest forms of information on the Internet were somewhat random in nature. The first recipe, for instance, was most likely a family favorite of some top-brass military personnel.

Still, there was a growing side of the Internet that was using the service to communicate with others. This was taking the form of moderated message boards, often called newsgroups. These groups would exchange information and encourage others to grow the community. Brian K. Reid, moderator of the gourmand group, is credited with maintaining one of the earliest databases of food on the Internet. He had a few rules for writing recipes, including: no preaching, no fake ingredients and no “mystical” quantities.

If you’re curious about when the Internet started actually giving food to us, as opposed to use getting ideas on how to cook, trace back no further than 1994. It was Pizza Hut that first began accepting orders taken from the Internet, and the service was limited only to customers in the Santa Cruz area.

About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Samuel Phineas Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Samuel Phineas Upham on his Samuel Phineas Upham website.