Note: Here’s another post from Samantha Schwartz, our summer social media intern – and an ace foodie.

Before the internet, recipe sharing meant literally scribbling down a copy of your friend’s nearly perfected banana bread recipe. These days, if you just Google “banana bread recipe”, you’ll find over 5 million results. The Google sidebar lets you sort ingredients, cook time and calories per serving, something that a box full of scribbled recipe cards just can’t help you with. Looking for the best? You’ll find a recipe that 29,073 people have saved at allrecipes.com, along with a recipe from Food Network guru Giada and one from the trusted baking brand Betty Crocker, all given 5 stars from more than 100 reviewers.

Allrecipes.com alone has 214 banana bread recipes.

It’s overwhelming, sure, but I’m willing to bet that these recipes make your friend’s banana bread taste like a sugar-coated brick. (Unless your friend is the author of a beloved five-star recipe, of course.) What social media and the Internet at large have done for DIY gourmets is truly amazing; cooks from around the world provide reviews and tweaks for recipes so that you can bake five-star banana bread.

Who wouldn’t want to join this foodie network? Here are a few of my favorite sites – and since we’re being social, please share your own faves in the comments.

BEST IN: RECIPES

Allrecipes.com: This is by far my most-visited foodie site. It generates recipes based on ingredients, allows you to save custom versions of other recipes and lets you share recipes via email or Facebook in one click. It has about a million features, but my favorite parts of the site are quite simple–I love the photos and reviews. Each recipe has not just one photo, but a whole gallery to provide ideas for presentation and recipe spin-offs. The reviews provide tips on how to make a recipe better, easier, or just more interesting–for FREE. It makes me like humans!

Also try: foodnetwork.com, cooks.com and epicurious.com.

Note: If you have any sort of allergy or intolerance, you can also probably find a cooking community that goes along with it. For example, peanutallergy.com offers nut-free recipes, and celiac.com offers gluten-free recipes.

BEST IN: BLOGS

Cupcakesandcashmere.com: I’m a little obsessed with this blog, despite the fact that food and fashion can be conflicting interests. (The blogger, Emily, has performed a miracle by being a skinny cupcake enthusiast.) I truly can’t decide if I am more in love with this breakfast pizza recipe, or this outfit. Her creativity in fashion is reflected in her food, and the raving comments section proves that everything tastes just as good as it looks.

Also try: thewednesdaychef.com, chezpim.com, staceysnacksonline.com.

BEST IN: FOOD ADMIRATION

Foodgawker.com: If you eat with your eyes, you’ve just arrived in heaven. Updated daily, foodgawker takes the best in food blogs and presents large, high-quality photos on which viewers can feast their eyes. Warning: if you’re like me, don’t read this blog in a public place, unless you consider gasping and nearly licking your screen socially appropriate.

Also try: tastespotting.com, photograzing.seriouseats.com, thisiswhyyourefat.tumblr.com.

If you haven’t been to these foodie sites yet, you’re missing out! What’s your favorite cooking or recipe site on the social Web? Let us know in the comments.