Cookie Policy

Last Updated: January 28, 2026

Introduction

The Fryerist (“we,” “us,” or “our”) uses cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website at https://thefryerist.com (the “Site”). This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, how we use them, what types of cookies we use, and how you can control your cookie preferences.

This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy: https://thefryerist.com/privacy-policy/

By continuing to use our Site, you consent to our use of cookies as described in this policy.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, smartphone, tablet) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently and provide information to website owners.

Key Features of Cookies:

  • Stored in your web browser
  • Can contain information like site preferences, login status, or browsing history
  • Help websites “remember” you between visits
  • Can be set by the website you’re visiting (first-party) or by other services (third-party)
  • Have expiration dates (some delete when you close your browser, others persist)

Why We Use Cookies

We use cookies for several important purposes:

✅ Essential Site Functionality – Enable core features like commenting and user accounts
✅ Performance & Analytics – Understand how visitors use our Site to improve content
✅ Personalization – Remember your preferences and provide customized experiences
✅ Advertising – Display relevant ads and measure advertising effectiveness
✅ Security – Protect against spam, fraud, and unauthorized access
✅ Social Media Integration – Enable sharing features and embedded content

Types of Cookies We Use

1. Strictly Necessary Cookies

Purpose: Essential for the Site to function properly

Examples:

  • Session cookies to maintain your browsing session
  • Security cookies to authenticate users and prevent fraud
  • Cookie consent cookies to remember your cookie preferences
  • Load balancing cookies to distribute traffic across servers

Duration: Session (deleted when browser closes) or up to 1 year

Can you disable them? No – these cookies are essential for the Site to work. Disabling them will prevent you from using certain features.

Legal Basis: Legitimate interest (essential for service provision)

2. Functional Cookies

Purpose: Enable enhanced functionality and personalization

Examples:

  • Comment form data (name, email, website) – saves for 1 year
  • User preferences (display settings, font size)
  • Language preferences
  • Region/location preferences
  • Recipe view preferences (grid vs. list)
  • Recently viewed recipes

Duration: Typically 1 year

Can you disable them? Yes, but you’ll need to re-enter information each visit

Legal Basis: Consent (in EU/UK) or Legitimate interest (elsewhere)

What we store:

Cookie Name: comment_author_[hash]
Purpose: Remembers your name for comments
Duration: 1 year

Cookie Name: comment_author_email_[hash]
Purpose: Remembers your email for comments
Duration: 1 year

Cookie Name: comment_author_url_[hash]
Purpose: Remembers your website URL for comments
Duration: 1 year

3. Analytics & Performance Cookies

Purpose: Help us understand how visitors use our Site

Primary Service: Google Analytics

What it tracks:

  • Pages you visit
  • How long you stay on each page
  • How you arrived at our Site (search, social media, direct)
  • Your approximate location (country/city)
  • Device type and browser
  • User journey through the Site

What it DOESN’T track:

  • Your name or personal identity
  • Exact location or IP address (anonymized)
  • Any personally identifiable information

Duration: Up to 26 months

Can you disable them? Yes

Legal Basis: Consent (in EU/UK/California)

Cookies used:

_ga - Distinguishes unique users (2 years)
_gid - Distinguishes unique users (24 hours)
_gat - Throttles request rate (1 minute)

Other analytics services we may use:

  • Jetpack Stats (WordPress analytics)
  • Site-specific tracking for recipe performance

4. Advertising Cookies

Purpose: Display relevant ads and measure ad performance

How they work:

  • Track your browsing behavior across websites
  • Build a profile of your interests
  • Show ads relevant to those interests
  • Measure how many people see and click on ads
  • Prevent the same ad from showing too many times

Primary Services:

Google AdSense

Mediavine (if applicable)

  • Premium display advertising network
  • Comprehensive ad management and optimization
  • Duration: Varies by cookie (24 hours to 2 years)
  • Privacy Policy: https://www.mediavine.com/privacy-policy/
  • Opt-out: Mediavine privacy settings

Cookies used (examples):

Google:
IDE - Tracks ad impressions (13 months)
DSID - Links activities across devices (2 weeks)
_gcl_au - Stores ad click information (90 days)

Mediavine:
Various tracking cookies for ad delivery and performance

Can you disable them? Yes

  • Browser settings
  • Ad network opt-outs (links above)
  • Cookie consent settings
  • Use ad blockers (may affect site functionality)

Legal Basis: Consent (required in EU/UK/California)

5. Social Media Cookies

Purpose: Enable social sharing and display social content

Services we integrate:

Pinterest

Instagram (Meta/Facebook)

Facebook (Meta)

YouTube (Google)

Twitter/X

Cookies used (examples):

Pinterest:
_pinterest_sess - Session data
_pin_unauth - User preferences

Facebook/Instagram:
fr - Primary advertising cookie
_fbp - Tracks visits across websites

YouTube:
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE - Tracks video views
YSC - Tracks unique views

Can you disable them? Yes

  • Disable in cookie consent settings
  • Browser settings
  • Platform-specific privacy settings
  • Note: Embedded content won’t display properly if disabled

Legal Basis: Consent (required in EU/UK/California)

6. Marketing & Retargeting Cookies

Purpose: Show you relevant ads after you leave our Site

How retargeting works:

  1. You visit our Site
  2. A cookie is placed on your device
  3. When you visit other websites, you may see ads for The Fryerist
  4. This reminds you of recipes or content you viewed

Services we may use:

  • Google Ads Remarketing
  • Facebook Pixel / Meta Remarketing
  • Pinterest Tag
  • Other advertising platforms

Duration: Typically 30-90 days

Can you disable them? Yes

Legal Basis: Consent (required in EU/UK/California)

7. Affiliate & Conversion Tracking Cookies

Purpose: Track affiliate link clicks and conversions

How they work:

  • You click an affiliate link on our Site
  • A cookie is placed by the retailer (Amazon, Walmart, etc.)
  • If you make a purchase, the retailer knows it came from our Site
  • We earn a commission

Services:

  • Amazon Associates
  • ShareASale
  • CJ Affiliate
  • Impact
  • Rakuten
  • Individual retailer affiliate programs

Duration: Typically 24 hours to 90 days (varies by program)

What they track:

  • That you clicked from our Site
  • Whether you made a purchase
  • Which products you purchased (for commission calculation)

What they DON’T track:

  • Your personal identity on our side (we don’t see who purchased)
  • Your specific personal information
  • Anything unrelated to the purchase

Can you disable them? Yes, but:

  • You can still purchase products
  • We won’t earn a commission (which supports our free content)
  • Retailer may still place their own tracking cookies

Legal Basis: Consent (in EU/UK) or Legitimate interest (elsewhere)

For more information: See our Affiliate Disclosure at https://thefryerist.com/affiliate-disclosure/

First-Party vs. Third-Party Cookies

First-Party Cookies

  • Set by The Fryerist directly
  • Used for essential functionality, preferences, and analytics
  • Only we can read these cookies
  • Examples: Comment form data, login cookies, site preferences

Third-Party Cookies

  • Set by external services (Google, Facebook, ad networks)
  • Used for advertising, social media, analytics
  • Can track you across multiple websites
  • Examples: Google Analytics, ad network cookies, social media pixels

Note: Third-party cookies are increasingly being phased out by major browsers. We’re monitoring these changes and will adapt our tracking methods accordingly.

How Long Do Cookies Last?

Cookies have different lifespans:

Session Cookies

  • Temporary cookies
  • Deleted when you close your browser
  • Used for: Active sessions, shopping carts, form data

Persistent Cookies

  • Remain on your device for a set period
  • Deleted after expiration date or when manually cleared
  • Duration ranges from 24 hours to 2 years depending on purpose

Our cookie durations:

Essential cookies: Session to 1 year
Functional cookies: 1 year
Analytics cookies: 24 hours to 26 months
Advertising cookies: 30 days to 2 years
Social media cookies: Session to 2 years
Affiliate cookies: 24 hours to 90 days

How to Manage Cookies

You have several options to control cookies:

1. Cookie Consent Banner

When you first visit our Site, you’ll see a cookie consent banner where you can:

  • Accept all cookies
  • Reject non-essential cookies
  • Customize your preferences
  • Access this Cookie Policy

To change your preferences later:

  • Look for the “Cookie Settings” or “Manage Cookies” link in our footer
  • Click to open the consent manager
  • Adjust your preferences
  • Save your choices

2. Browser Settings

All modern browsers allow you to control cookies:

Google Chrome

  1. Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data
  2. Choose from:
    • Allow all cookies
    • Block third-party cookies
    • Block all cookies
  3. View and delete specific cookies: Site Settings → View permissions and data

Block cookies: Settings → Privacy → Cookies → Block all cookies
View cookies: Settings → Privacy → Cookies → See all cookies

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Settings → Privacy & Security
  2. Under “Cookies and Site Data” choose:
    • Standard (blocks known trackers)
    • Strict (blocks all third-party cookies)
    • Custom (choose specific types)
  3. Clear Data to remove all cookies

Apple Safari

  1. Preferences → Privacy
  2. Check “Block all cookies” (not recommended as it breaks functionality)
  3. Or use “Prevent cross-site tracking” for better privacy without breaking sites

Microsoft Edge

  1. Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Cookies and site data
  2. Choose blocking level
  3. Manage specific cookies: Cookies and site data stored → See all cookies

Mobile Browsers

iOS Safari: Settings → Safari → Block All Cookies

Android Chrome: Settings → Site Settings → Cookies → Block third-party cookies

3. Opt-Out Tools

Industry Opt-Out Pages:

Google-Specific:

Social Media:

4. Privacy-Focused Browsers & Extensions

Browsers with built-in privacy:

  • Brave Browser (blocks ads and trackers by default)
  • DuckDuckGo Browser (mobile)
  • Firefox Focus (mobile)

Browser Extensions:

  • Privacy Badger (by EFF)
  • uBlock Origin (ad blocker)
  • Ghostery (tracker blocker)
  • Cookie AutoDelete (automatically deletes cookies)

Note: Some privacy tools may affect site functionality or prevent access to certain features.

Impact of Blocking Cookies

If you block all cookies:

❌ Won’t work:

  • Commenting on recipes
  • Saving preferences
  • Staying logged in (if applicable)
  • Some site features and navigation

⚠️ May not work properly:

  • Embedded videos
  • Social sharing buttons
  • Personalized content
  • Recipe ratings/reviews

✅ Will still work:

  • Reading recipes
  • Browsing content
  • Basic site navigation

If you block third-party cookies:

✅ Will work normally:

  • All essential site features
  • Commenting and interacting
  • Reading content

❌ Won’t work:

  • Personalized ads (you’ll see generic ads instead)
  • Social media embeds and sharing
  • Cross-site tracking
  • Some analytics features

⚠️ May be affected:

  • Embedded content from external sites
  • Social login features
  • Retargeting campaigns

Region-Specific Information

European Union (GDPR) & United Kingdom

Under EU GDPR and UK GDPR:

Your Rights:

  • Right to consent before non-essential cookies are placed
  • Right to withdraw consent at any time
  • Right to access information about cookies
  • Right to object to processing

Our Obligations:

  • Obtain explicit consent for non-essential cookies
  • Provide clear information about cookies
  • Make it easy to withdraw consent
  • Not use pre-ticked boxes or cookie walls

Cookie Categories:

  • Strictly necessary: No consent required
  • All others: Consent required before placement

How we comply:

  • Cookie consent banner on first visit
  • No cookies placed until you consent (except essential)
  • Easy-to-access cookie settings
  • Granular control over cookie categories
  • Regular policy updates

California (CCPA/CPRA)

Under California privacy laws:

Your Rights:

  • Right to know what cookies are used
  • Right to opt-out of “sale” of personal information (includes some cookie tracking)
  • Right to non-discrimination for exercising rights

“Do Not Sell My Personal Information”: While we don’t “sell” data in the traditional sense, advertising cookies may constitute a “sale” under CCPA. You can opt out by:

  • Using our cookie consent manager
  • Clicking “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link (if you’re in California)
  • Browser opt-out methods listed above

Brazil (LGPD)

Under Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados:

Your Rights:

  • Right to consent before cookies are used
  • Right to access, correct, and delete data
  • Right to revoke consent

How we comply:

  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • Clear information about data processing
  • Easy withdrawal of consent

Canada (PIPEDA)

Under Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act:

Requirements:

  • Meaningful consent for cookie use
  • Clear information about cookies
  • Ability to withdraw consent

How we comply:

  • Cookie banner and consent options
  • Detailed cookie information
  • Easy opt-out mechanisms

Australia (Privacy Act)

Under Australian Privacy Principles:

Requirements:

  • Transparency about cookie use
  • Notice about third-party cookies
  • Reasonable security measures

How we comply:

  • Clear cookie policy
  • Third-party cookie disclosure
  • Secure cookie handling

Do Not Track (DNT) Signals

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) setting that sends a signal to websites requesting not to be tracked.

Current Status:

  • No universal standard exists for how to respond to DNT
  • Most websites and services do not honor DNT signals
  • Industry is moving toward alternative privacy frameworks

Our Position:

  • We do not currently respond to DNT signals
  • We recommend using our cookie consent manager instead
  • You can also use browser settings and opt-out tools listed above

Cookies and Children

Our Site is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly:

  • Collect personal information from children
  • Place cookies on children’s devices
  • Target children with advertising

If you believe a child has provided information to us, please contact us immediately at TheFryerist@mail.com so we can delete it.

Updates to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy to reflect:

  • Changes in our cookie use
  • New technologies
  • Legal or regulatory requirements
  • Feedback from users

When we update this policy:

  • “Last Updated” date will change
  • Material changes will be communicated via:
    • Notice on our Site
    • Email notification (if you’re subscribed)
    • Updated cookie banner

We recommend:

  • Reviewing this policy periodically
  • Checking after major site updates
  • Contacting us with questions

More Information

Related Policies:

External Resources:

Technical Details for Advanced Users

Cookie Storage Location

Cookies are typically stored in:

  • Windows: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
  • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default
  • Linux: ~/.config/google-chrome/Default

(Path varies by browser)

Cookie Structure

A typical cookie contains:

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1234567890.1234567890
Domain: .thefryerist.com
Path: /
Expires: 2028-01-28
HttpOnly: false
Secure: true
SameSite: Lax

SameSite Attribute

Our cookies use SameSite settings for security:

  • Strict: Only sent to our domain
  • Lax: Sent on safe top-level navigation (default for most)
  • None: Sent with all requests (requires Secure flag)

This helps protect against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks.

Secure & HttpOnly Flags

  • Secure: Cookie only sent over HTTPS connections
  • HttpOnly: Cookie cannot be accessed by JavaScript (security measure)

Contact Us

If you have questions about our use of cookies:

Email: TheFryerist@mail.com
Contact Form: https://thefryerist.com/contact/
Cookie Settings: [Link to cookie consent manager in footer]

We’re happy to help with:

  • Understanding specific cookies
  • Managing your preferences
  • Technical questions about cookies
  • Privacy concerns
  • Data access requests

Response Time: We aim to respond within 7 business days.

Summary (Plain Language)

What are cookies? Small files that help websites work and remember you

Why do we use them?

  • Make the site work properly
  • Remember your preferences
  • Understand how people use our site
  • Show relevant ads
  • Enable social sharing

What types do we use?

  • Essential (required for site to work)
  • Functional (remember your preferences)
  • Analytics (understand site usage)
  • Advertising (show relevant ads)
  • Social media (sharing and embeds)

Can you control them? Yes!

  • Cookie settings banner
  • Browser settings
  • Opt-out tools
  • Ad preferences pages

Will blocking cookies affect the site?

  • Blocking essential cookies: Site won’t work properly
  • Blocking other cookies: Site works, but less personalized

Questions? Email us: TheFryerist@mail.com

© 2026 The Fryerist. All rights reserved.

Quick Reference: Major Cookies We Use

Cookie NamePurposeDurationCan Block?
comment_author_*Remember your name for comments1 yearYes (but will need to re-enter)
wordpress_*WordPress session managementSessionNo (essential)
_gaGoogle Analytics – user tracking2 yearsYes
_gidGoogle Analytics – session tracking24 hoursYes
IDEGoogle advertising13 monthsYes
frFacebook advertising90 daysYes
_pinterest_sessPinterest session1 yearYes

For a complete list of cookies and their purposes, use your browser’s cookie inspector tool.