Terms of Service: Usage Rules and Legal Limits

Last updated: October 2023

This page lays out the terms that govern your use of Mussel Mongers. We've written it in plain language because legal pages shouldn't require a translator. Read through it once, and you'll know where you stand.

Acceptance of Terms

When you browse this site, read a recipe, or use anything we publish, you're agreeing to these terms. That's the deal. It applies to every visitor — casual readers, regular cooks, anyone who lands here from a search for the perfect moules-frites.

If something in these terms doesn't sit right with you, the answer is simple: don't use the site. There's no fine print trick here. Continued use is your consent, plain and clear.

Acceptable Use

Most of our visitors come to cook, learn, and maybe plan a trip to a Brussels seafood spot. That's exactly what we built this for. But there are a few lines we ask you not to cross.

If you send us anything — a comment, a question through our Contact Us page, feedback on a recipe, keep it accurate and honest. Don't submit fraudulent details or impersonate someone you're not.

• Don't interfere with the security of the site or try to break its availability for others.
• Don't run scrapers, bots, or scripts that hammer our servers.
• Don't use the site for anything unlawful, abusive, or designed to harm other users.

None of this is unusual. It's the same courtesy you'd extend to any kitchen you were invited into.

Use License and Intellectual Property

You're welcome to use the content here for your own personal, non-commercial cooking. Print a recipe, follow a prep guide, save a seafood buying tip for your next market run — all fine.

What you can't do is take our work and republish it as your own. The recipes, photographs, written guides, and the way they're put together belong to Mussel Mongers or to the people who license their material to us. Redistributing, reselling, or reposting any of it without written permission crosses the line from inspiration into infringement.

If you'd like to feature something — a quote, a photo, a guide, for a publication or commercial project, ask first. We're often happy to say yes when the request comes with credit and a heads-up.

No Warranties

We put real care into what we publish. Recipes get tested, seafood guides reflect genuine experience, and we try to keep restaurant information current. Still, we offer the site and everything on it on an "as available" basis.

That means we don't guarantee that every detail is accurate, complete, or up to date at the moment you read it. A restaurant might change its hours. A supplier might stop stocking a particular mussel variety. Cooking times vary with your equipment and your produce.

For anything that carries real consequence — a shellfish allergy, a dietary restriction, food safety for someone vulnerable, lean on a professional. A doctor, a dietitian, or a fishmonger you trust will serve you better than any web page can. Treat our content as a knowledgeable friend's advice, not a clinical reference.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Mussel Mongers isn't liable for damages that arise from your use of the site. If a recipe doesn't turn out, if a guide steers you toward a place that's since closed, or if anything you read here leads to a loss, that responsibility doesn't fall on us.

This covers indirect, incidental, and consequential losses in particular — the knock-on effects that are hard to foresee and harder to pin down. Different jurisdictions cap how far a limitation like this can reach, and we apply it only as far as local law permits.

Applicable Law and Disputes

These terms are read and interpreted under the laws of the jurisdiction where Mussel Mongers operates. If a dispute ever comes up that we can't resolve directly, it falls to the competent courts in that jurisdiction.

One more practical point: if a court decides that a single clause in these terms can't be enforced, the rest stay fully in effect. Pulling one thread doesn't unravel the whole thing.

Modifications to These Terms

We revise these terms now and then — when the site changes, when the law shifts, or when something here simply needs to be clearer. When we do, we update the revision date at the top of this page.

If you keep using the site after a change goes live, that counts as your agreement to the updated terms. It's worth glancing at this page once in a while, the same way you'd check a label before buying.

Contact Information

Questions about any of this? We'd rather you ask than guess. Reach out through our Contact Us page and we'll get back to you. If you want to know how we handle your personal information, our Privacy Policy covers that side of things in the same plain language.