Food Porn

I make no claims that this is anything even close to a food blog, though I do like to post the occasional picture of my half-eaten lollipops. Over the weekend, Chris found an article in Food & Wine magazine that, while mainly discussing food blogs, talks about what makes a good blog - whether it's food-related or not, and he makes some very good points. Namely (and I'm quoting here):

1. First, a good blog needs to communicate passion, and a really good blog will make the reader feel passionate as well. This should be easy when the subject is food, but it does rule out cheese sandwiches. Listen up, bloggers: Nobody cares what you had for lunch today!
2. Second, there ought to be consequences—something should be at stake. The political bloggers have this part down; most of them write as if the fate of the republic hinged on what Arlen Specter said on Meet the Press. The stakes are not always as obvious in gastronomy, but they do exist.
3. Third, the blog should be timely, keeping current with news of the world it covers.
4. Finally, like any good piece of writing, a blog needs a sense of purpose. The author can't just curl up on the sofa like an overfed retriever and recollect his last bowl of kibble; he should strain forward like a terrier who's late for an appointment with a ham bone. Above all, the author should know how to complete the sentence "This blog is about___." That's why I admire Adam Kuban, whose blog Slice is about pizza and nothing but pizza. Kuban is always on guard against mission creep. "Sure, I'd love to rhapsodize about how great the new Battlestar Galactica is," he writes. "But I can't. I've gotta stay on message here. So until I see Admiral Adama chowing down on a slice between Cylon attacks...I can't go there."

While I don't think this little piece of Internet real estate is earth-shattering in any way, I also don't write about cheese sandwiches. So, there are some things to be thankful for, half-eaten lollipops aside.