So I get it already, I'm late to the party. There are already millions of citizens of Blogandia - motivated by different reasons and enjoying varying levels of satisfaction and success, much like real life.
The food blogosphere is one seemingly wrought with boring contention. 'Traditional' food media are apparently miffed that any old Joe Blogs (oh yeah) can go eat somewhere, write about it and influence people. The annoyance factor is amplified when a blogger is 'invited as a guest' of said place (ie. not paying for the privilege). The blood is brought to the boil when said blogger is offered a book deal after the journalist has spent years climbing the baguette ladder.
Food bloggers vehemently defend themselves with cries of toiling and typing for the passion. They go on about the egalitarianism of blogs as a medium - breaking through the almost impenetrable fortress that is food journalism. They band together as victims and have verbal orgies with each other via their comments section.
Hell, I understand both sides and for now there is room for everyone while there is still a clear distinction between the two. Reflections from a professional food writer need not be in competition to the recollections of a food blogger, for now.
It may seem misguided to diss food bloggers in my first post on my baby food blog, but it's not as bad as it sounds. I equally dislike professional food writers' angsty blog-induced tantrums as much as I want to vomit at the sycophancy of food blogger cliques.
I like to occasionally indulge in some food pornyness, but am usually too embarrassed to take pictures in a restaurant and am more interested in learning about food from a sociological and historical perspective.
So yeah, back to my original point - maybe this shit is redundant. Maybe it's The Future? I don't know, we will see. Hopefully at some point I can have the conversations that I really care about, and in the meantime you are all free to sponsor a post for a pastrami sandwich.
Post script - a friend of mine commented that food writers can be fairly cliquey with themselves and with chefs too - which is a fair point.
