diff --git a/src/Roux/RecipeIndex.hs b/src/Roux/RecipeIndex.hs
index c467b2d..4dc5bcc 100644
--- a/src/Roux/RecipeIndex.hs
+++ b/src/Roux/RecipeIndex.hs
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@ module Roux.RecipeIndex (
     toSearchEntry,
 ) where
 
+import qualified Data.ByteString as BS
 import Data.Text (Text)
 import qualified Data.Text as T
+import qualified Data.Text.Encoding as T
+import qualified Data.Text.Encoding.Error as T
 import Fleece.Aeson (EncoderDecoder)
 import Fleece.Core (constructor, list, object, optionalNullable, required, text, (#+))
 import qualified Fleece.Core as FC
@@ -39,8 +42,9 @@ scanRecipes dir = do
 -- | Load and parse a single recipe file.
 loadRecipe :: FilePath -> FilePath -> IO RecipeInfo
 loadRecipe dir filename = do
-    content <- readFile (dir </> filename)
-    let parsed = parseCookFile (T.pack content)
+    bs <- BS.readFile (dir </> filename)
+    let content = T.decodeUtf8With T.lenientDecode bs
+        parsed = parseCookFile content
         title = case parsed of
             Right r -> extractTitle r filename
             Left _err -> T.pack (takeBaseName filename)