Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Hello all,

I was saddened this morning when I clicked on my Tastespotting bookmark only to find that the site no longer exists. I began searching for answers and happened upon a blog post at "use real butter." I have posted this there as well.

First of all, I'd like to say that this world is filled with beauty in varied forms from music to paintings to food and so on. Human beings, as creatures who love to be admired, so often get caught up in receiving "credit" and "compensation" for the beauty they create and share instead of releasing it for the world to adore and emulate and moving on to the next creation.

When the World Wide Web was birthed into existence, our world became united in ways that were unfathomable. As a result, humanity can no longer tightly control the sharing of creative beauty, whether it be a song, a recipe, a photo, or an application. My question is this: If we believe in a Higher Power who created and sustains this world, why fret about freely sharing our manipulation of Glorious Creation?

Every time I watch the Discovery Channel or go to the Science section of CNN.com, I hear about the discover of yet another species which was previously unknown to mankind. This world is so vast, awesone and wondrously created, how can our meager offerings compare? We should strive to be more like our Creator---and there had to be a Creator of such a Divinely Designed World---and freely share with one another. What if we couldn't watch a sunset, pick a bunch of wildflowers for a loved one, pick wild berries for a summer pie, photograph a soaring eagle or catch a fish from woodland stream without having to ask permission and observing copyright laws?

The ties that bind us are those of our own creation. I believe that the concept behind Tastespotting was not self-serving. It was intended to be a place where foodies, food bloggers, and FOOD LOVERS worldwide could post, link, and SHARE a common bond. Now, for whatever reason, that has been taken away, and food blogging will suffer because is has once more become compartmentalized. For those who are unfamiliar with food blogging, it will be difficult to create a blogroll of the wonderful food blogs which were featured on Tastespotting.

May we all strive to find and appreciate Common Ground.