These days, anyone with a computer can be a food writer.
The Internet is overflowing with food diaries, or blogs, where writers share their views, and often photos, about the food they eat takeout or homemade. There is commentary on the way we eat, how our food is grown, cookbooks and magazines, chefs we know by name, cooking techniques and equipment. And Spam. The food, not the unwanted e-mail.
The nature of the blog is a bit mysterious. Sometimes it takes some digging to find out who the writer is. Often they just divulge a first name. That doesn't keep them from getting famous in blogosphere, where a clever name (Smittenkitchen) has more cachet than whatever name Mom came up with (Deb).
For our time, the best food blogs make us laugh or tell us something we didn't know. Here's a handful that do one or the other, or both.
Steamykitchen.com
Jaden Hair's kitchen is steamy all right, what with all those sensuous food photos and provocative shots of her. But it's also pretty funny. Especially when Hair, who teaches cooking classes in the Tampa Bay area, puts her head on the bodies of celebrity chefs. See her as a naughty Rachael Ray in the famous FHM photo shoot or as a beclogged Mario Batali on a parody book cover. It's all great fun with seriously good recipes, many of them a nod to Hair's Asian heritage.
Whatwereeating.com
Amanda and Tyler live in San Diego. They like to cook, take photos of what they make and banter about it in "he-said-she-said" style. Nobody can go on and on like them about meatballs, pork ribs or whatever. Luckily, the back-and-forth is entertaining. Better yet, Amanda shares her recipes, many of them original.
Chewswise.com
Sam Fromartz, journalist and author (Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How they Grew) deconstructs the business behind the organic food movement. This is a good jumping-off spot for other blogs about sustainable agriculture and how (and how far away) our food is grown. Prepare to do some deep thinking.
101cookbooks.com
San Francisco photographer and writer Heidi Swanson, at right, has a lot of cookbooks and for about five years, she has been sharing her favorite recipes from them. There's always a gorgeous photo plus interesting commentary about the recipe and the cookbook. The site has won many awards and gets tons of hits. You know that when a recipe for Cottage Cheese Muffins elicits 51 comments.
Seriouseats.com
Ed Levine and his cadre of contributors aim to keep us informed and entertained about anything having to do with food. TV chef and restaurateur Mario Batali is a regular commentator. You can't help feeling smarter after a quick run through this site. For instance, did you know that boxer Evander Holyfield will be challenging George Foreman with his own grilling machine? It will be called the Real Deal Grill.
Professional chef Shuna Fish Lydon has some serious cooking chops. She's cooked at Mesa Grill in New York plus French Laundry on the West Coast. She's a freelancer now so has plenty of time to give advice to fledgling chefs and write food poetry. For example, her thoughts on a busy kitchen: "We are a ballet and a mosh pit./A platoon and an Olympic team./Tournament and Be In./Welcome to my home. Allow me to feed you delectable elixirs/ and sublime flavors tinged with evocative perfumes."
Smittenkitchen.com
Chief blogger Deb's real kitchen is just 80 square feet on the fourth floor of an 1870 New York walkup. In those cramped quarters she makes some impressive food, including bagels. Who would make their own bagels with the variety that can be bought in New York? Someone who is really smitten by food. Her enthusiasm is catching. Thank husband Alex for the fantastic photos.
Kalyn Denny of Salt Lake City lost 40 pounds on the South Beach Diet and shares the recipes, some original, that helped her reach her goal. Besides cooking, she also ferrets out interesting low-carb products, such as the peppadew feta dip she found at Costco. Kalyn's level-headed and so is this blog. Very informative.
Tom Hughes and Meredith Sayles Hughes write this blog as on offshoot of Foodmuseum.com. If something is happening in the food world, they report it with their own spin. Recent blog postings are interesting because the Albuquerque, N.M., couple was in St. Petersburg. They wonder why they can't find much Florida seafood at the grocery store and drool over a visit to "legendary" Mazzaro's Italian Market on 22nd Avenue N.
