Privacy Policy

Last Updated: April 14, 2025

Welcome to Pure Cooking Joy! We value your privacy and want you to understand how we collect, use, and protect your information when you visit our website, purecookingjoy.com. This Privacy Policy explains our practices.

By using our website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Table of Contents

1. Who We Are

Our website address is: https://purecookingjoy.com
If you have any questions about this policy or your data, you can contact us at: [email protected]

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We collect certain information from and about our visitors in a few different ways:

  • Information You Give Us Directly:
    • Comments: When you leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form (like your name and email address), your IP address, and browser user agent string to help detect spam. Your website URL is optional. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture (if you use Gravatar) might be visible to the public next to your comment.
    • Contact Forms: If you contact us through a form on our site, we collect your name, email address, and the message you provide so we can respond to your inquiry.
    • Newsletter/Email Subscriptions: If you choose to subscribe to our email list, we collect your email address and potentially your first name, so we can send you recipes, updates, or other relevant content.
  • Information We Collect Automatically:
    • Log Data & Analytics: Like most websites, we automatically collect information your browser sends whenever you visit Pure Cooking Joy. This may include your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address (often anonymized), browser type, browser version, the pages you visit on our site, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, referring website, and other statistics. We use analytics services (like Google Analytics) to understand how visitors use our site so we can improve it.
    • Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookies (small text files stored on your device) and similar tracking technologies to operate the site, analyze traffic, personalize content, serve ads, and track affiliate links. More details are in the “Cookies” section below.

3. How We Collect Your Data

  • Directly: When you type information into a comment box, contact form, or newsletter sign-up form.
  • Automatically: When you browse the site, certain data is collected automatically by our servers and through tools like analytics scripts and cookies.

We collect and use your data for the following purposes, relying on different legal bases:

  • To Operate and Maintain Our Website: Ensuring the site works correctly, including allowing comments and preventing spam. (Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest)
  • To Respond to Your Inquiries: Using information from contact forms or comments to reply to you. (Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest)
  • To Send Newsletters and Emails: Sending content you signed up for. (Legal Basis: Consent – you actively subscribed)
  • To Improve Our Website: Analyzing how visitors use the site to make it better and create more relevant content. (Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest, Consent for certain cookies)
  • To Display Advertising: Showing ads helps support the site. Some ads may be personalized based on your browsing activity using cookies. (Legal Basis: Consent for personalization cookies, Legitimate Interest for non-personalized ads)
  • To Manage Affiliate Partnerships: Tracking clicks on affiliate links to potentially earn commissions if you make a purchase. (Legal Basis: Consent for tracking cookies, Legitimate Interest to fund the site)
  • For Security and Fraud Prevention: Protecting the site and our visitors from spam and malicious activity. (Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest)

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small data files stored on your browser by the website. We use them for various purposes:

  • Necessary/Essential Cookies: These are required for the website to function properly (e.g., remembering if you’re logged in, managing cookie consent).
  • Analytics/Performance Cookies: These help us understand how visitors interact with the website by collecting information anonymously (e.g., Google Analytics cookies).
  • Advertising/Targeting Cookies: These are used by us or our advertising partners (like Google AdSense, potentially others like Mediavine or AdThrive) to show you ads that might be more relevant to your interests, both on our site and potentially elsewhere online. They track browsing habits.
  • Affiliate Cookies: If you click on an affiliate link (e.g., to Amazon or other partners), a cookie is often placed to track that the referral came from our site, so we might earn a commission if you make a purchase.

Managing Cookies: Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can usually block or delete cookies. However, blocking essential cookies may impact your ability to use certain features of our website. When you first visit our site (or after clearing your cookies), you should see a banner asking for your consent for non-essential cookies, allowing you to accept or reject them.

6. Third-Party Services and Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. However, we do share data with trusted third-party service providers who help us operate our website and business. These include:

  • Analytics Providers: Like Google Analytics, to analyze website traffic.
  • Email Marketing Services: Like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or MailerLite (whichever service we use), to manage our email list and send newsletters.
  • Advertising Partners: Like Google AdSense and potentially advertising networks (e.g., Mediavine, AdThrive), who display ads on our site. They may use cookies and collect data to personalize ads.
  • Affiliate Networks: Like Amazon Associates, ShareASale, etc., to track affiliate link clicks and manage commissions.
  • Website Hosting Providers: Our host stores the website’s data.
  • Spam Detection Services: Like Akismet, to filter comments for spam.
  • Social Media Platforms: If we embed content (like YouTube videos) or use sharing buttons (like Pinterest Save buttons), these platforms may set their own cookies or collect data.

These third parties only have access to the information necessary to perform their functions and are obligated to protect your data. We recommend reviewing their respective privacy policies for more details.

7. How Long We Keep Your Data (Data Retention)

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy:

  • Comments: Comment data (name, email, comment text, IP address) is retained indefinitely so your comment remains visible, unless you request its deletion.
  • Contact Form Submissions: We may keep contact form submissions for a reasonable period for customer service purposes, but we do not use the information submitted through them for marketing purposes unless you specifically consent.
  • Analytics Records: Analytics data (often anonymized or pseudonymized) is typically kept for a standard period (e.g., 26 months) before being automatically deleted.
  • Newsletter Subscribers: We keep your information as long as you remain subscribed. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails.

8. Your Data Rights

Depending on your location (especially if you are in the European Economic Area (EEA) or California), you have certain rights regarding your personal data:

  • Right to Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to Rectification: You can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten”): You can request that we delete your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You can ask us to limit how we use your data, under certain conditions.
  • Right to Data Portability: You can request that we transfer the data we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
  • Right to Object: You can object to our processing of your data where we rely on legitimate interest as our legal basis.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent (e.g., for newsletters or certain cookies), you can withdraw that consent at any time.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights (relevant under CCPA).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. This includes using technical measures like SSL/HTTPS encryption (which secures data transferred between your browser and our site) and working with reputable hosting providers. However, no internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children’s Privacy

Pure Cooking Joy is not intended for children under the age of 13 (or 16 in some regions like the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at [email protected] so we can remove the information.

11. International Data Transfers

Your information, including personal data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ. For example, our website hosting servers, analytics providers, or email services might be based in the United States. We take steps to ensure your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy, often relying on mechanisms like Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers outside the EEA/UK.

12. Affiliate Disclosure

Pure Cooking Joy participates in various affiliate marketing programs. This means we may get paid commissions on products purchased through our links to retailer sites (like Amazon and others). Clicking on an affiliate link places a cookie on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions. This comes at no extra cost to you, and helps us keep the site running!

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:
By email: [email protected]