Since you’re reading my blog, I know for a fact that you read several other food blogs. They’re addicting, right? One food blog is never enough. What is it about food blogs that keeps us coming back for more? The photos? The writing? The recipes? Usually, it’s all of the above!
I think many people trust recipes from food blogs more than other sources because we feel like it’s been prepared right before our eyes. The blogger often shares their thoughts on what was great about the recipe and what could use some improvement. And we often leave a food blog thinking, “Hey, maybe I can do that too!”
But the truth is, we often read food blogs while we’re at work or when we’re drinking our coffee first thing in the morning. Although we ooh and ahh over the recipes, we don’t always run out and make them right away. And then when we need a specific recipe at a specific time, we can’t remember where we saw it. So what do we do?
We google it.
You know you’ve done it. And what happens when you search for a recipe using google? You often end up on crazy recipe sites that are more interested in selling advertising space than providing you with a great recipe. I am constantly amazed at how many really bad recipe sites are out there. How do you find the food blog recipes without searching through each one individually? It used to be a maddening experience.
But thankfully, three of our favorite bloggers have been working at solving this problem for quite some time now. The Food Blog Search has been around since 2006 and it just keeps getting better and better. Elise, Kalyn, and Alanna have now added over 2000 blogs to this search engine, which guarantees you’ll be able to find just about any type of recipe you can imagine…and it will come from a food blog!
The search engine is even available in other languages! French, Spanish, and Portuguese, to be exact. I don’t know why it took me so long to write about this wonderful invention, I’ve been using it almost daily for quite some time now. But recently I’ve noticed that lots of my favorite bloggers have added a Food Blog Search in their sidebars. I finally decided to figure out how to do that myself and I’ve now added it to Pinch My Salt.
So maybe the food blog search isn’t breaking news, but it’s certainly information that needs to be shared! If you haven’t tried out The Food Blog Search, give it a try right now!
And I’d like to extend a long overdue Thank You to Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen and Alanna Kellog of A Veggie Venture and Kitchen Parade. Not only are they three of the most talented and prolific foodbloggers around, they are also genuinely nice people who went out of their way to make me feel welcome at last year’s BlogHer conference in Chicago. Thanks so much for taking the time to create and maintain this wonderful search engine!
That is fantastic! I usually do a search through google reader, but that will be great, because I can find a thousand more food blogs to subscribe to!!
3:15 pm Apr 15th, 2008Hi Nicole,
4:38 pm Apr 15th, 2008You are very welcome! I’ve been blown away by all the amazing sites I’m finding, or that are contacting me to be added to Food Blog Search. I’m constantly using the search engine for cooking inspiration too. So glad you like it too.
~Elise
That is so cool! I just added the search to my blog… I want to make sure I can find the recipes that work! I agree, I tend to trust bloggers since they give insight into what works and what doesn’t.
6:07 pm Apr 15th, 2008Cedar: I sometimes use the search in Google Reader, too. Especially if I’m looking for something that I know I’ve read recently. But I’ve been using the food blog search more and more lately!
Elise: Yes, it’s a great way to be introduced to some new sites! There are so many food blogs that it’s impossible to visit them all!
PatsyK: Cool! I knew there had to be other bloggers that would want to add the search engine, too
6:14 pm Apr 15th, 2008Hi Nicole – As you might guess, the real thanks goes to the generous Elise, who’s both the brain and the budget behind Food Blog Search. The best news, however, is that home cooks can now so easily find solid recipes from reliable bloggers — thanks for spotlighting the search!
6:38 pm Apr 15th, 2008Food blogs are my new obsession. I’m so hooked and Yours is one of them!
6:48 pm Apr 15th, 2008i’ve found it extremely helpful
7:44 pm Apr 15th, 2008many thanks to the creators…
Thank you Nicole — I hadn’t even realised that existed … et en français aussi ! Now bookmarked!
1:25 am Apr 16th, 2008Thanks for this post! I will try it as soon as I’m off your blog.
4:40 am Apr 16th, 2008Will see what they can do for my food blog too
Hi Nicole,
5:28 am Apr 16th, 2008You’re so sweet to help get the word out about this. Alanna is right that most of the credit should go to Elise, who had the original idea and also has done most of the work. I try to add a site whenever I see one that doesn’t look familiar, but quite often Elise has already found it.
Thanks! I’ve bookmarked it for much further use.
11:41 am Apr 16th, 2008Haha very nice post, Nicole. You brought up some good points. Lookin’ forward to meeting you at Eclipse at the end of the month!
1:40 pm Apr 16th, 2008Thanks for this great link. I’ve used foodieview.com for the past few years, which links to lots of magazine recipes (Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Sunset, etc.) and the Food Network, but this is even better.
3:31 pm Apr 16th, 2008I
5:13 pm Apr 16th, 2008Thanks for the link. Officially added to my site. Wonderful!
6:02 pm Apr 16th, 2008Thank you so much for the post – had no idea that Food Blog Search existed, it’s a brilliant idea!
6:40 pm Apr 16th, 2008I love the food blog search too and I have it on my site. It must have taken a lot of work adding all those sites too. I hate the way you get such a load of rubbish through google, the poor quality of some sites never ceases to amaze me.
5:54 am Apr 17th, 2008That is a great link to hang onto. Who needs an old file box full of recipe scraps anymore?
10:56 am Apr 18th, 2008Brilliant… as usual =D
Oh no! If they are all in one place I’ll never do another thing but spend time reading them!
11:22 am Apr 18th, 2008yeah, great job putting that together. i will epicurious no more! food bloggers are a prolific bunch.
12:02 pm Apr 18th, 2008You are 100% right, i trust more in blog recipe as other sources sometimes. I have in my blog The food blog search in English and Portuguese , But I didn’t know about in Spanish .
2:36 pm Apr 19th, 2008Thanks so much for mentioning the search!! I added it to my blog and they added me to the search!! I really prefer finding a recipe on a blog and hearing the story behind it!!
12:47 am Apr 23rd, 2008Nicole this search is news to me, and god bless you for posting about it. I can not tell you the hours i’ve spent in a sort of recipe wasteland looking for ideas on strawberry cream cake, coleslaw and cleansing soups. I am book marking the site right now.
11:24 am Apr 23rd, 2008This is great! I am so happy something like this exists. I’m putting it on my site right now. Check it out.
http://www.themaindiscourse.com
2:07 pm Apr 23rd, 2008This is great! I will definitely be checking out…
10:04 am Apr 25th, 2008Excellent idea on turning the spotlight on the Food Blog Search. Huzzah!
1:57 pm Apr 27th, 2008This is fabulous! Although I have many of my favorites in my bloglines account, I often want a recipe I read a few months ago and can’t remember which blog I saw it at. I copy and paste a fair amount of recipes into folders that I keep on my desktop, but this will make life much easier. What a great idea – should have known that that IT guru Elise was behind this (along with her excellent co-bloggers, Kalyn and Alana). Elise is the person who got me started reading food blogs in the first place.
Thanks for bringing this to all of our attention.
Trish
5:56 am Apr 28th, 2008WOW what a site! tryly impressed!
5:51 am May 1st, 2008Hi Nicole, What a great tool. I always put ‘blog’ at the end of my google searches for recipes! BTW, I saw your comment on Jaden’s blog about the lighting in San Diego. I couldn’t agree more. With all the sunny days, why isn’t the light coming in my house?!
8:38 am May 1st, 2008I just found your blog this morning, and this is some great information…thanks!?
3:32 pm May 7th, 2008I just found your blog this morning, and this is some great information…thanks!
3:33 pm May 7th, 2008This is great! I had just been thinking that I hate “googling” for recipes because I would rather read a blog recipe that has a story, pictures, comments etc. Thanks so much!
1:57 pm May 10th, 2008Your site gave the devil in my heart big power. The devil whispered it to me. Please eat food and it is sweet and please do it to be delicious. I lost to fight against the devil. I was dieting so…..(T?T) From Japan
6:37 pm May 11th, 2008http://food-soybean.blogspot.com/
thanks for having one like this, it will really help me boost my desire of studying cooking, regards
3:42 am May 19th, 2008I love your site, thanks for sharing “Food Blog Search”, I never knew it existed until now. I’m going to need to get some more printer paper and more printer ink!
9:35 pm Jul 29th, 2008mm… funny
7:33 am Apr 7th, 2009I don’t know If I said it already but …Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read….
5:25 pm Oct 8th, 2009Great article, i totally agree, it’s a mix of so many things that make us come back. Some blogs, like yours, have a little something special. We’re not quite sure what it is, but we just like to come back and look for updates. Also, thanks for the great search tool, there is so much to find on the web!
8:34 pm Nov 2nd, 2009wow this is simply best.
1:39 am Dec 1st, 2009I like the food blogs for their photos and recipes. Many of the writers are able to make their own recipes and that’s what I like. Commercial versions are great if you want something done quickly but home made recipes are quite original.
3:46 am Mar 14th, 2010