I’ll tell you a story. Believe it or not, until a few days ago I had never even heard of blogs. Well, that’s not entirely true – I’m sure I nodded and smiled when people brought them up in conversation, but I couldn’t have actually told you what they were. One lazy afternoon, however, while chasing some food-related topic through the bowels of the internet, I stumbled upon what I can only describe as a hidden universe – food blogs. Considering that scarcely an hour of my day passes that doesn’t involve thinking about, reading about, cooking or ingesting food, I was astonished. How could something so important have passed me by? Well, conscious of the fact that I had a lot of lost time to make up for, and letting my normal responsibilities tumble forgotten by the wayside, I started reading…and reading…and reading. And I discovered that these little personal web journals are probably the biggest thing to hit the food scene since sliced bread. Amazing! They’re spontaneous and honest (not to mention appetite-whetting) and they bring people together who love food and allow us to share our thoughts, opinions and even our dinners in a way previously only highly-paid food writers could. But you know all that.
So… now that the paint is drying on my shiny new blog, let me tell you a bit about why I’ve jumped on the bandwagon, and what I hope to make of these pages. Basically, I want to create a digital space where I can organise and explore all of the various strands of food-related thought that occupy my head at any given time. I have spent years stockpiling recipes, techniques, impressions and images of food as I have traveled and lived in different countries. I don’t know how useful any of this will be to the wider world, but I’ve realized that if I don’t start to get some of it down in written form I will just simply forget most of it. I don’t think I’ll have the patience to keep a daily journal of what I ate, I don’t think I’ll be linking to all the latest food-related articles in the press, and you won’t find many bite-by-bite accounts of restaurant meals (at least, until I can afford them); instead I want to write about general themes of food, taste, enjoyment and how this varies from place to place. Human beings seem to have an infinite capacity for invention when it comes to foods, and the fusion of edible materials is conceptualized in completely different ways depending on the history, the climate and the society of the people who cook them. In many ways I feel that the best way to understand a culture is to understand its food. I find this one of the most fascinating things in the world, and I hope to share some of this fascination with you through this site. Likewise, I hope you’ll take the time to share some of your own experiences, observations, and opinions with me!
Well, I’ve just scrolled back through all of your pages. I have seen your blog before and wanted to revisit it today. I see there are no comments for your first post, and since that just feels wrong – I have decided to do something about it. This body of work is utterly intoxicating. Your photography is mind-blowingly gorgeous. For a visual whore like me this is just too good! I am a major lover of food and beauty and to see all of the places you have traveled and all of the things you have eaten just looks like a dream. I’m just starting at blogging, I don’t even have my banner situation worked out yet. To achieve even a bit of something as good as this would be a huge accomplishment! Well done and lucky you!
I’m working on a post for my blog’s one year anniversary and decided it would be fun to look up and link to the first posts of some of my favorite blogs to see where they started and how far they’ve come. Looks like we were in a similar boat, although I was much more of a late bloomer- I hadn’t really read any food blogs until I started mine either, and then it was like a whole new world opening up. I guess better late than never, though! Glad you’re still around to light the way for us new kids.
Wow exactly the same sentiment and in fact I used to nod my head like i knew what they were talking about… but not until March 2008 did I discover food blogging and boy my life changed overnight. I was obsessed immediately. I had a blog up and recipes posted within 24 hours. It was very much like a whole hidden universe!Happy 5 Years! You have a fantastic blog!