Today, I watched Steve Plotnicki being interviewed by Anthony Bourdain in the No Reservations feature. Three American guys are being asked why they blog about food and restaurants.
This is an example of how things can be twisted on TV. My blogger friends and I certainly don’t hate each other because someone doesn’t like my favourite restaurant. On the contrary, we listen to each others’ pros and cons and share opinions.
Personally, I blog about restaurants for two main reasons – to spread the word about very good places to eat and, secondly, to have some sort of chronicle for myself to remember very nice restaurant experiences. Is this obsessive? I don’t know.
Why do you blog about food and do you feel it’s an obsession?
Food is a great way to share culture + community and fellowship with friends and family plus the people we meet along our life journey. Blogging about food is a great way to share all of this with the people in the corners of the globe.
Blogging about food is a bit of an obsession, but so is eating well. But eh-beats the alternative!
Read more about my food adventures in Norway at Thanks For The Food
Blogging epicurean endeavors provides an outlet, audience and ensures accountability. However, I am hesitant to offer specific measurements, recipes or formulations that have been the result of much research, trial and error.
You’re welcome, Alex. And, thank you!
Thanks for sharing this link, I was actually looking for that episode. It is truly a bit weird how the show is portraying bloggers… I blog for the same reason you do, for having some kind of public diary I can access any time.
Dear JC, S Lloyd and Lars
Thank you so much for your input on this subject. We seem to be on the same page here 🙂
It’s a great feeling to share things that you love.
I regret that we didn´t do it 10 years ago because it´s a fun way to keep the visits alive, but also to help others to find new and interesting places. The blog is a good reason to take photos of everything and makes it less anoying for the restaurants when its for a good cause- maybe even good in the longrun if it attracts new guest.
I consider you and other foodies out there as the most reliable source of info and I rather search for opinions from people paying their own bills than the traditional guides.
When you find people that share the same preferences as ourself than you can save some bucks on not booking bad and expensive places that doesn´t deliver and go to the place that you hadn´t even heard about.
Thank you everyone that I read!
I have always deeply believed in Knowledge as a milestone of evolution and “Sharing it” as a conduct for evolutive education / useful informative conduct. I do not want us to repeat the errors of ancient history when a lot has disappeared because the information was not passed on, Rfaol!
Seriously, I am very “open-sourced” minded when it comes to sharing infos. I have been doing it for years in computing (Unix/Open Source computing communities), and when I saw how food could be a passionate interest with a lot to share about, it became natural for me to share, albeit in a very humbly manner, with very limited material for now, but at least the intention is there.
I love food, hence a pleasure to share about it.
I agree with JC: opinions can diverge but respect of opinions should always stand predominate. After all, people have different expectations and tastes and that should be as respected as encouraged since diversity brings evolutive possibilities. I am actually glad to see that you are in great company to that respect: I never saw any unpleasantries on your blog.
As for being obsessive, the day this elevates to obsession, I will stop blogging about food right away because it would then stop being fun, hence not necessary anymore.
I love food, and I love photography, so combining the two was the natural way to go. As for blogging, it’s partly to have a story to go along with the photos, partly to have a record of the experience in case I start forgetting certain details, and partly to force myself to do something I don’t do well, with the hope of improving, or at least getting more comfortable with doing something I don’t do well (finding the motivation to get started is a huge problem for me). I guess it was partially inspired by the book The Artist’s Way, although I was never able to finish the book, nor to write nearly as much as it says to write (which is every day).
Obsession…no, not really. I don’t eat out much, and I can’t afford to go to haute places more than a few times a year. And those are the places I tend to write about, because I can’t go often (and, I admit, because the plating is often prettier and therefore easier to photograph). I don’t really write about the cheap little holes-in-the-wall I usually go to when eating out, though perhaps I should. Obviously I’m much more obsessive about the photography than the writing. I always feel bad about taking photos when my friends just want to eat, even though I never get as much time to take the photos as I would like.
I don’t have a problem with people disagreeing with my opinions on restaurants, as long as everyone can stay relatively civil and open-minded. However, it is important to know by what one’s opinions are informed, and to accept that some people’s opinions will carry more weight because they are better informed. I don’t know much about Danish food, so my opinion on it means much less than yours. 😉 But that opens up another can of worms – does authentic automatically mean good/best? – which I won’t get into.