On food writing blogs
I know what you are, but what am I? Famous words by Pee-Wee Herman. Suitable also for food bloggers. Recently Robert Sietsema penned a great piece on the Columbia Journalism Review about food bloggers. It's a really interesting piece if you want to learn more about the history of food writing as it pertains to restaurant reviews. The question it raised personally was, "What exactly am I? And what do I hope to do with this blog?" I think the question is worth exploring for most bloggers, and maybe it's time to reflect on that a little bit here.
Right now I think there are mainly a few types of blogs. There's the content aggregation blogs like Eater or Grub Street. There are recipe sites that focus only on cooking at home. There are restaurant review sites that focus mostly on eating out, and there are some product review sites that talk about things you can buy at a store. Everyone is trying to achieve something... some sites want to create a network and you see that as Eater and Grubstreet expand beyond New York. You see recipe based sites try to get book deals and become authors beyond the web realm. I don't think food product reviewers have a clear path to something... but for restaurant review bloggers, we suffer the same problem.
If you've been reading this site for a while, I think it's pretty clear that my writing is never headed towards a print publication until I learn how to write. So... what's the point then? What does that make me? I'm sure that most of us start this with modest expectations and knowing that breaking even on all food costs would be a big accomplishment. Although with that goal in my mind, I still know that food blogs are not here to replace print publications and their legit reviews. The truth is that most bloggers can't afford to visit a restaurant three times to try most of the menu items and test it for consistency. That just costs too much money and time.
What food blogs serve to do is to extend the way that people used to acquire restaurant suggestions. It used to be that you asked friends for ideas or that friends offered up suggestions after going to an enjoyable place. Social consequences aside, our society is increasing its reliability on virtual interactions. Those nervous glances by nerdy boys and nervous-breakdown inducing attempts at saying hello to a pretty girl have turned into profiles and algorithmic matching for love. It's a society that's reliant on connections big or small, throughout the world. All we're doing is what feels natural. In addition to getting recommendations from someone close to us, we build up trust with those on the interwebs, we take a chance on something new because our little microcosm can't possibly account for all the worthwhile food that exists out there.
Maybe there are issues of ethics out there, about whether food bloggers are anonymous and whether we accept free meals but I think those deficiencies are usually fixed by simple actions. For the most part, food bloggers are never recognized because we're too low on the totem poll. And yes, free meals will always taste better, but that's why you focus on food blogs that you trust. Ones that at least tries to be impartial. RSS readers help bloggers pull in regular readers, and those readers can learn whether to trust the opinion.
The system we have isn't perfect by any means. Maybe bloggers aren't the answer to finding better food. Maybe it'll forever be relegated to bulletin board zealots or maybe one day Google will come out with a solution that'll blow all of our minds. Those guys might have failed at buying Yelp, but it wouldn't surprise me if they build a yelp-like site from scratch. Maybe the thing about blogger integrity and blogger intentions are overblown now. Some new innovation will come down the line, and it'll probably make food bloggers less relevant. What we know now is that the market is big enough to support both more information and better information. So I think all of this will sort itself out soon enough. And I'll do a real food post tomorrow, sorry to be so slow lately. I've been working on a few things.
I think reading food blogs is like probing a culture. And it's not just because I'm a foreigner either, I think everyone is a foreigner when they go somewhere that isn't their hometown, at least for a little while until they get to know that place. So every restaurant, every food cart, every hole in the wall is a piece of that new culture, and thanks to the bloggers, the readers don't have to travel to know what it's like in places they'll unlikely ever be.
FlavorBoulevard
March 9, 2010 12:12 pm
@James,
You bring up a good point about sharing with others. It's funny because IRL, I never feel such a need or desire to express as much. I almost feel like my blog is a contradiction of my self, or perhaps it's the other way around.
@Allix,
That's an interesting way to look at it. I never saw it as taking it from a passive interest to an active one. You're right though, taking ownership of it changes how we look at it. And I'll drink to trying to improve on writing. It's neverending and a mysterious thing personally.
Danny
February 16, 2010 12:16 am
The main reason I started food blogging is because I wanted to transform eating from a passive activity into an active interest. When asked the question "what do you like to do?", I would always be left scratching my head, attempting to formulate a less lame-sounding answer than "I like to eat". Everyone has to eat, and sure, some people like it better than others, but it's hardly a unique hobby that allows individual ownership. Food blogging enables me to really participate in and personalize the activity I enjoy most. Also, I love to write, and it provides an outlet in which I can practice and improve my writing and combine my two passions. If I got recognized and a crazy opportunity in the food industry opened up, I wouldn't complain about that either... :)
Allix
February 14, 2010 5:40 pm
I think the biggest shared thread among food bloggers is a desire to share a bit of themselves with others. That's easy to say since it's a pretty broad characteristic, but the food blogs I come back to give me a real sense of personality and two-way communication.
Like you say, I feel like when I read a good food blog I am getting a personal recommendation or recipe from a friend in every new post, as well as an idea of where they're coming from and an invitation to discuss beyond the idea of rating food. Technical parameters are rarely needed when you're a decent writer; your posts will communicate your tastes in addition to your judgments, while respecting the reader's right to discretion.
At the end of the day, when it comes to traditional format (one person eating, thinking and writing) food blogs, I'd like to think the post itself speaks the most for its writer, regardless of how it's dressed.
I won't be the first to remind you here that you're a great writer, by the way! Keep up the great work.
James
February 14, 2010 2:20 pm