Satiating hungry readers

Food blogs are an increasing trend in the online media space. At last count, there were 101 food bloggers in Sydney alone with the national list at least twice that. Therefore, it is no surprise that last week, the biennial Australian Food Media Awards announced a new category for this year’s awards – an award for Best Australian Food Blog.

What mainstream media won’t, can’t or doesn’t think to publish or broadcast from now on, food bloggers will.

When the second series of television’s Underbelly showed Aussie Bob Trimboli holding meetings in the Grotta Capri, an iconic restaurant of the day (more iconic for its décor than its food), it was the blog Not Quite Nigella that visited it and reported back in pictures and words. I learned that the chef was from Sicily, one of three fountains still worked and the Mobster Lobster was the most popular dish. No one else had thought to investigate.

Simons Food Favourites blog is known in the blogosphere for having his food experiences uploaded in full colour before the sun comes up the next day.

Prolific food blog Grab Your Fork had this to say the day after the announcement of the new award was announced: “An unbridled commitment to share, to comment and to espouse the joys of food are the main reasons why many of us blog. Media interest, social media influence and the power of Google rankings have also been factors in the gradual streamlining of food blogs into the public consciousness.

“The most exciting step to date? The creation of a new category, Best Australian Food Blog, for the biennial Australian Food Media Awards are ‘the industry’s highest accolades, honouring outstanding communicators whose work can be credited for increasing the Australian public’s awareness and love of fine food.’

“As (the Awards chair) said at the category launch last week, most food bloggers (myself included) have full-time jobs that are unrelated to media or food. Blogs are genuine works of passion pursued after work hours, written by people who have no deadlines, who have no editorial policy, who have free will to write when and if they please. And yet we continue to do so with bewildering intensity, because we are driven by a sense of community, of an eagerness to share, and an unabated love and appreciation of food.”

This latest development, the critical recognition of food blogs, is inspiring to say the least.

The challenge of developing the category’s unique judging criteria is currently being developed.

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