There’s something about the Internet, social media, and food: they’re like that perfect yet illusive smoothie, the recipe for which does not seem to exist, but is prized and sought after by every armchair gourmand in all corners of the world. People love to blog about food and post pictures of recipes and meals they have while dining out. Writing about food is certainly nothing new under the sun, but the world of foodie blogging is a fairly recent innovation and has brought people from all walks of life together in ways that simply weren’t possible twenty years ago.
Now, there’s even a Food Blog Alliance, a blog that is a sort of clearing house for the latest information on food blogging events, debuts, and news. Although most people who blog about food do so within the constructs of existing personal blogs, a growing number of people have been inspired to create entire blogs dedicated to the high tech foodie lifestyle. Or the low tech foodie lifestyle. Or the foodie lifestyle in general. These “food blogs” are also known as “flogs” and have become some of the Web’s most popular daily destinations for hungry people everywhere.
One of the first wildly popular food blogs, Hungry Girl, led to a series of best selling cookbooks for its founder Lisa Lillien. In fact, she’s had more than one New York Times’ Best Seller emerge from her foray into blogging about food. Not only are her cookbooks selling like hotcakes, but she’s also been endorsed, to some extent, by Weight Watchers International, Inc., to publish its “top secret” Points Plus values alongside her recipes. Very few companies enjoy such a partnership with Weight Watchers, which doesn’t even allow its paying members to post Points Plus values in its online message boards.
A few years ago, author Julie Powell hit the big time with her book, Julie and Julia, which was quickly snapped up by Hollywood and became a major motion picture starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. It worked well for her, and look how popular she is now. Food blogging, therefore, is nothing to sneeze at. If anything, it’s become more popular than ever and more food bloggers are joining the ranks daily.
But, as in all things, there are dissidents. Some people detest arriving at a blog and finding a post featuring a plateful of food. I have heard people make comments such as “ew, this just makes it look unsavory.” I guess it’s all a matter of taste.
