Why do you blog [about food]?
![Why do you blog [about food]?](http://www.grilledshane.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/whyblog.jpg "Why do you blog [about food]?")
Recently, as I have been reading more and more food blogs, I began to wonder why each person has started their individual [food] blog. I want to know what makes you create recipes, cook, photograph and then blog about the final dish? Is it as simple as a passion for food and cooking? Does it have to do with improving your life? Learning? What?! What has brought you to the [food] blogging universe?
I thought about asking each blogger individually, but then it hit me, “I can create a blog entry out of this.” Genius I am, I know.
So again, I must ask…
Why do you blog [about food]?
Since I am the one asking the question, I thought I should be the first one to answer. This can be like story-time for adults, with me rambling and everyone else bored. Ha.
I started blogging a few years ago, allowing myself to rant and rave about love and life. When I began, I hard coded everything, thinking, “I don’t need no stinking blogging software.” However, after a few weeks of actually trying to hard code a blog, I quickly installed WordPress. The ease of use changed dramatically, but the content did not. I was still talking about boring, mundane topics that no one but me and a few of my friends were interested in. Plus, no one commented. It was basically a waste of Internet space. I had even tried my A Photo A Day project, where I posted a new photo each day. Although I really enjoyed it, I never promoted it and so the interest was only there with people I knew.
Then, I had an epiphany. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to start my own restaurant. There is just one problem: I have no restaurant/business experience (or money). None whatsoever. Unfortunately, working as a cashier at the Nordstrom Cafe doesn’t really cut the mustard. This is where my epiphany came in. I thought I would create a food (grilled cheese sandwich) blog (I love technology) to increase my knowledge and experience. It couldn’t hurt, right?
It hasn’t so far. Not only have I accumulated a great library of grilled cheese sandwiches that continues to grow, but I have also begun to learn everything about cheese and fine-tune my cooking skills. I have loved cheese for all these years but only knew the basics. It is now time to become a cheese connoisseur. I am well on my way.
You may be asking why grilled cheese? My mom has cooked grilled cheese sandwiches for as long as I can remember and I have loved them for the same amount of time so it only seemed logical to blog about them. Also, people always think that a griled cheese sandwich must consist of white bread and American cheese. Nothing else. How boring! I am here to prove those people wrong. A grilled cheese can be much more than two slices of bread and some cheese.
That is why I blog [about food]: To learn about cheese and cooking and to prove the age old stereotype of grilled cheese false. Now, again, I must ask, why do YOU blog [about food]? Answer this question in the comments below. Happy Bloggin’!
Oh gosh. I have had a passion for food and cooking for a long time. I have, at various times, entertained idle thoughts of attempting to make some kind of career out of it, but never quite knew where to start. Reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential pretty much put me off a career in catering for life, so I just stuck to cooking for myself, family & friends.
Later I developed a real passion for photography and took courses for a few years but, again, never quite knew where I wanted to go with it. When I finally had the idea of doing the blog, it was a real eureka moment – why had I never thought of it before? It gave me a creative outlet that combined food, photography and writing, which I’d always really wanted to try my hand at. Now, for a change, I had somewhere I could start. I haven’t looked back.
Perfect. Thank you. This is exactly what I am curious about; the history behind individual blogs. It is all so very interesting in my opinion.
The combining of food and photography is a reason I enjoy food blogging as well. Although it can be frustrating sometimes, most of the time it is very enjoyable.
I must ask a follow-up question, though. Where do you see yourself taking your blog? Do you have an end goal or do you simply want to keep perfecting your skills?
Good question. Initially I just wanted to see where it would take me and, already, I’ve learned more things and encountered more great people than I could ever have expected to. That alone makes me want to keep at the blog for the forseeable future.
I would also love to write a book though. The more I write the blog, the more the idea for what that book might be continues to gel. I’m not there yet and it would be a big project but, like the blog itself, it’s an idea that won’t go away, so I guess I’m going to have to do something about it eventually 🙂
I started SippitySup 10 months ago today!
I have worked in show business as a photographer for more than 15 years. I was feeling a bit like that song…”is that all there is”?
Photography which was once a dream career for me had become a grind. Call it a mid-life crisis I guess, but I needed a change in my life.
Entertaining at home and cooking started out as a professional necessity. But it soon became something I loved. I am a self-taught cook and am in no way an expert. But when you love something it is easy to enjoy the learning process.
The blog began because I needed to re-ignite my creative juices. I wanted to share what I leaned and was continuing to learn. I wanted to enjoy photography again, but I did not want it to be a big deal burden (like work). So I made a rule on my blog. I would only use a cheapo point and shot camera and I would only use available light. I would never spend more than a few minutes doing each photo, because I planned to actually eat the food I as shooting.
But when the blog started I was a bit intimidated by the writing part. I held back in that area. But as the blog has grown I find that the writing is now what I enjoy the most.
So I may have started because of my love of cooking, and I did hope a blog would reconnect me to photography in a positive way. But in the end my blog introduced me to a brand new creative outlet through writing.
Now I am hooked…
Wow. I never realized that you worked in show business. That is very cool! Meet anyone famous? Ha. I can understand how photography could go from a dream career to a boring job. My A Photo A Day project got there quickly and that is why I ended up stopping. The grilled cheese thing almost got there but I thankfully took a break and am somewhat reinvigorated. 🙂
I must ask you the same question I asked the Spud: Where do you see yourself taking your blog? Do you have an end goal or do you simply want to keep perfecting your skills (in both food & writing)? Are you planning a book as well?
Yep, my answer is exactly the same as Spud. She and I are quite alike (though she’s way prettier). I’d like to do a book. Some sort of “cook book” but not quite a traditional book of recipes. Something very much like my website I suppose. But I also have ideas for 2 more web sites that would act as portals to SippitySup and the things I love. GREG
We have similar blogging roots….it starts as a personal outlet, which you soon realize no one (but maybe a very few people) actually reads. And while my blog still is largely about my family (read: son) I like to have little weekly segments to bring in readers…plus it makes me accountable so that I don’t go weeks and weeks without posting.
Then, as I started reading other blogs I got involved in these “Blog Parties”. Someone starts a “party” with a theme…most recently I did the DIY Fall Festival party and then people can post something related to that theme and then link back to the original party host blog. Hope that makes sense. I love blog parties! Not only does it generate more traffic to your own blog, but you discover lots of new blogs and lots of great new ideas!
But, food? Specifically? Well, I guess I started posting recipes because I found I was getting a lot of recipes off other blogs so why not spread the wealth. Plus, it forces me to keep things from getting to mundane in the kitchen.