"Everyone says they love food, but do you know food?" Home Page Introduction
These are the three people responsible for a website called The Food We Know. And unlike most websites/blogs I have no idea who they are or where they are other than in America somewhere. And America, as we know, is vast - similar in size to our own Australia I guess.
When I discovered that there were no names and biographies attached I thought this weird. Virtually every other blog I have ever looked at in this way has a personal story attached. Then I stopped and thought about my own blog. I don't even have an About page. I have Why which I guess explains a bit about how I came to start on this and what I hoped to achieve:
"Really it’s just musings with a food focus. It's certainly not a well-researched academic kind of thing. Pretty superficial really. Food can take you in all sorts of directions though. So I started the blog and have enjoyed it enormously, besides learning a lot of weird and wonderful and just plain interesting things along the way."
However, there is nothing there about me, other than that I'm old. Yes the name of the website tells you my name is Rosemary and that's about it. You don't even know I live in Australia. I write a bit about myself as I go along of course, and followers (all of whom know me personally anyway) would have gathered by now that I live in Eltham, have two sons and five grandchildren, grew up in England, love France and Italy and food and, I almost forgot - oh dear - I have a husband called David.
So maybe this trio of young people feel much the same about what they do. This is the entire text from their About section:
"From cooking and gardening know-how to travel and adventure, The Food We Know is here to offer advice and our real world experiences to help you do things better. Founded by a bunch of folks who like to eat well and save money by “doing it yourself”, we strive to deliver you entertaining guidance on a variety of topics. Think of us as your very own resource to make better decisions when choosing what to buy, where to eat or who to read and more!"
There are no ads on the site, I have no idea how many people view their site, or if, indeed this is all they do, or whether it is a hobby. They are young. Surely they are hoping to make money from it? If so I do not know how - so maybe not. Maybe it's just a joint interest.
But then I clicked on the Affiliates button at the bottom of the page and found this:
"The Food We Know is an online magazine dedicated to writing and talking about food, travel, coffee and all things fun. This site is both a passion project for the writers and also a source of income. If we find a place, an item or something else pretty cool we may recommend it to our readers and followers. Sometimes that can even make us a commission, usually enough to buy a plain coffee at Dunkin. This in no way clouds or reviews or opinions and you can always trust us to be fair and truthful in our reporting. – The Food We Know Staff"
They are also affiliated with the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, "an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com"
Yes Amazon are everywhere, and isn't it a pity that they do such a good job? But no, there are not a lot of ads. 'The Food We Know Staff' - implies more than those three in the picture. Maybe the three in the picture are just models and have nothing to do with the website at all. Or is that the cynic in me?
So why am I looking at it? Well it's the next on my list of websites that I've come across that I have noted down for a closer look, whether it be because of the food, the writing, the weird name of the blog, their reputation ... This one - well I'm not quite sure why I wrote it down. I suspect it might have been because of a particular article which I had found to be useful.
Because their articles are rather more 'researched' than mine. Take for example an article called All about pierogi which seems to be the third most recent article they have written. I chose this one because of my own recent article Pierogi from Poland. There is no comparison at all when it comes to everything you could say about pierogi. They win hands down.
So OK, whichever one of the three wrote the article has Polish parents, and so there is a fair amount of family lore on the subject - and actual knowledge. But there is also a large amount of information on the history and variety - although not a single recipe - not to mention where you can find the best pierogi in the North East Corner of the USA - well Pennsylvania, New York State, New Jersey and Ohio - apparently where the Polish immigrants are most prominent. Also there are details of festivals, online sources and plenty more.
It's a little bit like a lecture with paragraph headings and some text in bold to highlight the main points, but then there are those personal memories, as well. The writing is OK but not captivating as it is on some sites but I would give full marks for the photography, although, again, they may just be photographs sourced from the net. Indeed some of them have photo credits - which I should do more of - but others don't have a source so may be their own - like the one above - not the one below.
Other recent? posts are various - 27 ways to reduce food wast at home and why it matters; 12 unique coffee rituals from around the world; 29 lobster facts that will leave you amazed; 27 things you should never put in your curbside bin - this list is very long and Cajun vs Creole: and what's the difference.
Indeed you would learn quite a bit if you read these - particularly the coffee, the lobsters and the cajun vs creole, but I confess my eyes glazed over a bit. Nevertheless I have no doubt that I shall come across them again when I am looking for information. So yes this is a website I admire but do not love I suppose.
Motivation is interesting isn't it? How and why do we fill our lives with the things we fill our spare time with? While most foodie blogs/websites obviously are trying to make money, or, to be corny, are undertaking some personal life journey, even if it's only for a time - a kind of therapy I suppose; then this one is much harder to pin down. It's obviously a group effort for a start - most foodie blogs are one person driven, even if they end up being so successful they have to employ a team to help produce it. Occasionally you find a husband/wife venture and there is Woks of Life - which is a family venture, but mostly it's one person. I am not counting the foodie online magazines here Bon Appétit, delicious. The Guardian et al.
The Food We Know, does in fact have quite a lot in common with myself in terms of the topics chosen. It's a very wide range - indeed one - favourite Facebook sites, had nothing to do with food at all - it was mostly home renovation. The approach, or rather perhaps the end result is different however. Me - I start with a topic and a vague aim, but get distracted along the way, sometimes into personal musings about life, the universe and everything. Well no, not as ambitious as that. I think mostly I find myself asking more questions than offering answers. And I do provide links to a lot of recipes. Well we are all interested in food aren't we? - The Food We Know team is certainly right about that - and besides I want to share ideas for what you could cook for dinner this week or maybe next. Sometime soon anyway.
The Food We Know team however, want to really find out about things and share the knowledge - the facts. They don't ask questions to which they don't have answers. They provide answers to your questions, even if you didn't know you had those questions.
Did I mention that there are no dates on any of the articles? So I have no idea whether this is an old site, a new site or somewhere in the middle. I also have no idea how often those articles appear and they have no names attached either. I tried to find reviews, or interviews, but again found nothing.
But - and it's a big but - if you are searching their website, then there is nothing to help you. No archive, no keywords, no search button. You willl just have to trawl your way through. Moreover parts of it seem unfinished - the Contacts page has no text other than the original 'lorem ipsum ...' stuff that you get in any template. And under Related Posts, you just have a long line of programming language which will take you nowhere. I tried. Careless.
All of which sounds very negative, but truly if you want to know facts about something foodie and it's on their website then it's worth having a look. There is a lot of detail there that I, for one, would be too lazy to bother with writing about.
Interesting!