Since the Julia Child food blogging movie Julia & Julia, and substantially well before that, it seemed like everyone and her sister had a food blog. I find food blogs extremely helpful when I have a craving for something I want to make; they are also extremely helpful in finding up-to-date information (although not entirely reliable) on food health issues, like meat glue or the recent pink slime scandal in the U.S. With so many large web properties investing in the online food and recipe business, there are a few ways you can overstep the static and find good food blogs without relying on a general search through Google.
There are new sites like Recipes US which offer a simple, searchable portal for finding food blogs. I like the handy searchable index at the top to help you refine your search after some main keywords are typed in. This blog doesn't waste your time making you link through their pages, and immediately directs you to unusual and interesting food blogs: one I came across is all about how to cook like a chef in an RV.
Another way to find the most popular and tried-trusted-and-true food blogs is to go to the old blog search engine Technorati which ranks blogs according to their authority, namely how long the blog has been around mixed up with some other parameters, like how many other blogs and websites link to them. This is a more sure-fire way of finding some good recipes according to your taste and culture. While Technorati doesn't separate between food and recipe blogs (click here for the top 100 food and recipe blogs), this basic entry point is a great start if you have time on your hands to fall in love with a few new food bloggers.
Of course if you are a regular reader of The Huffington Post, you can always follow Kitchen Daily to get your new recipes fix.
As an advocate of environmental sustainability, I believe it's really important that we get out of the habit of buying frozen, freeze-dried and packaged food -- and go back into the kitchen. While canned food has lost a lot of lustre since I was a kid (because of BPA), and our access to the much healthier fast freeze vegetables and fruit option at the grocery store, too much of what we find in the grocery store is pre-packaged industry-made food with low nutrition content, added preservatives and a high price.
Think of all that extra packaging too. Whether you are a penny pincher, following a 100 Mile Diet or just a traditional type, follow food blogs near you and from afar, to learn some new traditions, inspire your palate, and dare I say, save the planet?
Karin Kloosterman is the founder and editor of Green Prophet, a sustainable news source covering the Middle East. She publishes a weekly blog on Middle East food to help keep old food traditions alive and people eating better.