PrintHave higher food prices affected food bloggers?
Out of curiosity, I'm wondering if people here have noticed their favorite bloggers going for cheaper ingredients - making more spaghetti and vegetables, for example, and less pastured spring lamb in truffled butter? Is food porn looking cheaper?
Likewise, if you cook from foodblogs, have you found yourself unable to make an interesting recipe because the ingredients were beyond your price range?
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13 Comments:
I haven't really changed the way I cook, which is because I'm almost always cooking for 1 (I cook for 2 no more than three times a week). If I had to feed a family of 4 on a daily basis, I'm sure I wouldn't be buying dairy from a local creamery or hen of the woods mushrooms, but since it's just me, it's not that big a deal. Of course I could stop buying local milk and cream and other fancypants ingredients and save that money for some killer stilettos :)
charm city cupcake at 8:09PM on 05/06/08
Not all food blogging is about expensive ingredients that have gotten more expensive.
I think the most useful recipes I get from food blogs are ones that are simple everyday foods without exotic ingredients, so I'd probably be getting those ingredients anyway...even if they have inflated in price a bit.
wunami at 8:19PM on 05/06/08
As a food blogger, I have to say no -- for me. But only because I blog about what I normally cook every day, which is essentially peasant food. Cheap, reliable, delicious peasant food. :)
Now, for those fancy-schmancy food porn kings (whom I love and adore), I think that buying expensive ingredients are something they'd normally do every day. That is to say, die-hard foodies are going to put the purchasing of expensive foodstuffs before any other little luxuries and are probably more likely to make sacrifices in other areas before they'd ever sacrifice high-quality ingredients.
So, in a nutshell, no -- I haven't noticed anything yet and wouldn't expect to. At least not yet... We'll see what future months and years bring. :) :) :)
sheeats at 9:02PM on 05/06/08
@charm city: I applaud you for supporting your local dairy farmer. I'm sure he or she appreciates your loyalty as his costs have risen as well.
As for my personal cooking habits, the changes have been more due to the availability of high quality, reasonably priced produce. We have spaghetti or some type of pasta once a week, but we've always done that. We just eat more fruit and veggies than junk food now. For some reason (and I'm not sure why) beef is much less expensive here in SoCal than it was in Northwestern Florida. Chicken in slightly higher.
beth1 at 10:35PM on 05/06/08
As a blogger, it is hard to write the recipes and joy of food with the same gusto. Somewhere in my mind is lurking that image of the people in need. As someone who also writes on food issues, it is a challenging time to step up and write better work on food crisis and help people find solutions.
As an eater, we buy all of our meats direct from farmers, grassfed, so the costs are not increasing as much. Eggs have gone up, and we get these locally as well as milk, both are from pastured sources, so the increases are not as high.
I also buy veggies in season at the farmers market and our CSA. It went up about $40.00 this year due to gas prices, but not for the farming inputs. Most items are about the same cost at the market. It's a good time to have well-established locavore roots.
ExpatChef at 10:45AM on 05/07/08
I do have a large family of big eaters, so prices have affected us. I won't give up buying milk at Publix (with no antibiotics/hormones) but I do buy a lot less fish and meat. Instead, I look for the best buy for our dollar. I bought 30 pounds of sirloin yesterday because it was on sale for $1.87/lb. for a whole sirloin tip. The butcher ground half of it and the rest was sliced into steaks. That was a big expenditure on the front end, but will keep up in lean beef for the summer! I think we will continue to work on doing more with less.
FeedingFive at 10:59AM on 05/07/08
Blerg! In bermuda food costs silly amounts. 8 bucks pound for tomatoes? 12 dollars a pound for chicken? 35 dollars a pound for halibut? whats crazy is the prices haven't really risen all that much here yet... maybe because they were soo high in the first place. oh yea and local costs much more then imported!
franklindelanobluth at 12:15PM on 05/07/08
I think my blogging has changed a bit as of late. Sometimes I will plan on trying out a new recipe specifically to blog about it, and then at the store I'll be inundated with insane pricing that is out of my budget, so I need to wait on that recipe. Writing new recipes is even harder, because I'll get a great idea on paper, and head out to shop for the ingredients for a rest run, and same thing, an ingredient has skyrocketed, and I know the people who use my recipes aren't going to be willing to shell out $3.50 for one red bell pepper that was .79 two weeks ago.
I'm having similar problems as ExpatChef as well. I really enjoy my blogging, I wouldn't do it otherwise, but I find myself frequently thinking of those who have to do without and are struggling with the rising prices. As a result, I have been doing more cost-conscious meals and budgeting suggestions...but I'm sure the people who really are in need aren't spending time reading blogs looking for friendly suggestions.
ErikaWaz at 12:47PM on 05/07/08
Yeah, maybe this is a call to blog about affordable, budget-friendly recipes during these times to help others.
bster18 at 2:09PM on 05/07/08
I think the question brings to the center the two types of food bloggers: the ones who cook to blog (design a recipe with the blog in mind, keep precise track so they can write it up, etc.) and those who blog to cook (I count myself here) who just cook and eat as normal, then write about it. Those that are in the second half might not even notice those changes coming about. It is in my nature to buy what is fresh and cheap, so that is what I cook with, so perhaps my ingredients are changing...but not to the point that it is a concern?
dagoose at 2:15PM on 05/07/08
I have changed as i seem to have lost my zeal for cooking. i have several kids i cook 3 meals a day and i seem to be cooking less "real" food and more processed (shudder)food. I love to cook but it is hard to find the foods that i like and my kids will eat here in my tiny town so i try my best. I used to blog daily about the delish things but it seems like nothing strikes my fancy anymore i don't feel that the things i cook are worth anyones time to read and i only post when it is good and or fabulous. My triple choco walnut brownies are roll your eyes up in a diabetic coma good but it is so hard to find the joy i once had. I hope that i will find my joy again but the prices are so high it is hard to cook as i choose to.
love2cook at 5:00PM on 05/07/08
love2cook, your post makes me a saaaaddd panda :(
franklindelanobluth at 6:13PM on 05/07/08
My blog is restaurant-focused, covering New England and New York, so I'm seeing rising costs two ways: the higher menu prices and the higher gas prices.
Do I mind or have I changed? No. For me, my restaurant explorations and my blog are my hobby. So just as baseball fans pony up more each season to see the same number of games, I'm paying a little more to do what I enjoy, so why change?
Pigtrip1 at 12:25PM on 05/08/08