The World of Food Blogs

By Isabel Adler, Columnist

Everything is switching to online these days, including the food world. People buy cookbooks less and less to get a recipe and resort to the Internet much more. What are the best websites to use when looking for good recipes? Food blogs seem to be popping up all over the world of cooking.

These unique sites are where chefs, aspiring and well known, can share favorite recipes and comments. Unlike recipe websites, such as on The Food Network, these blogs have creative introductions and are more personal.

Because the blog author usually hand selects the recipes, the dishes are the very best in quality and finished product.  Unlike the websites with thousands of recipes (epicurious, Food Network) these selected pieces are more intimate.

The Smitten Kitchen is a blog that uses creative introductions to explain the principles behind the sweet and savory recipes. The Smitten Kitchen opens onto a page with the latest recipes and posts. A seductive photograph of the dish is on the homepage of the site.

This blog follows the creator’s food life; from publishing her first cookbook to testing recipes. The woman who started the site talks about her personal life and how it ties into the food she makes.

The Smitten Kitchen’s cuisine includes gourmet recipes such as Banana Bread Crepe Cake with Butterscotch. The dazzling recipe selection doesn’t stop at dessert. It travels through all elements of the kitchen. The Smitten Kitchen makes a person want to stop what they are doing and cook through the breathtaking imagery and sweet writing.

Another blog that illustrates fine cuisine is The Recipe Grinder. This site is all about delectable recipes, interviews with New York chefs, and beautiful stories about cooking in the kitchen. The author of this blog is a New York man that blogs about his passion: food.

Every recipe has photographs of the steps taken to produce the final dish. The beautiful pictures illustrate that the food is almost as big of a star as the chef. These step by step photographs make it easy for the novice chef to follow.

One of the only breakfast foods on the blog, “The High Flyin’ Pancake,” is a personal favorite. The simple pancake designed to feed two is baked in the oven until it is almost a popover. Then, it is served with lemon and sugar.

Dash and Bella is a blog following a mother and her two kids. The founder of this blog writes about her cooking fiascos, triumphs and recipes while juggling two young children. The meals are usually easy and simple enough for kids to enjoy as well.

Recipes range from mint chocolate chip ice cream to onion tart. The wide variety of ideas makes the site amusing to browse. Just looking through the cuisine shows true effort and love for food. After all, only eating the food could be better than looking at it.

Everything is switching online these days. Just spend some time exploring the hundreds of food blogs, and you will see that sometimes the best recipes are hidden in the depths of a quiet blog and the fabric of the world around.