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Well, I guess the call to action worked as there's a comment troll shilling for factory farming in the comment section here. Look, I don't argue that you can't go back to a 1940s economy in the US and still feed people. But if I make the economic choice to stop eating as much as I can from factory farming, don't get all huffy with me and tell me I'm destroying America; that's a crap argument. I am exercising my economic choice just like farmers are when they decide what techniques and methods to use in producing their crops.

And scare tactics about losing the family farm are pretty low. There's a huge exemption on the inheritance tax so the VAST majority of family-owned farms would NEVER be hit by a single penny of tax. Specious political scare-tactic argument used to frighten rural voters.

For me it has been a wonderful mix of the three themes above.

Family - My mother and my sister are incredible cooks. I didn't catch the bug until later, but there were signs. Mixing 'potions' in the kitchen with mom when I was a kid; sous chef in charge of chopping veg for soups when I was a little older; and now gathering around a table when the family is together in whatever pieces can be in the same place at the same time. Somewhere along the way, discovered that I not only liked to eat, but that I loved to cook, to talk with people about ingredients and techniques with which I was unfamiliar. Since then I have to buy my own socks and underwear at Christmas because my stocking stuffers are kitchen utensils, bags of South Carolina grits, and cookbooks.

Community - Both in terms of creating and sustaining a community of food that is both local and a driver in a diverse economy and as a collection of farmers and cooks, parents and friends. I think that food by its very nature is communal, and that friendships and families are strengthened by sharing meals. Taking the time to make the meal a part of that strengthening, and not simply the sustenance that allows us to keep breathing. I think as we spend time at SeriousEats, on Facebook, and in our daily lives thinking more about connecting with people and why those connections are important, that I take time to weave cooking/eating into that connection.

Flavah - Yeah, it matters that what I eat tastes good. I concur with several of the above comments that make sure "serious" is not conflated with "stuffy" and that the All-American Burger and Fries, or a bowl of tomato soup on a cold day are held in as much regard by some as Gigot en Chevreuil on page 341 of Mastering French Cooking. Grabbing a beer and a dog at the ballgame and spending six hours in the kitchen on Thanksgiving are equally important and serious bits of food to me.

Multiple thoughts here.

Cafe - Not a fan of bans. More coffee for more wifi seems fair. Should there be a page requirement for the dead-tree readers?

Restaurant - Kinda depends on both the place and the time. If it's 3pm in a non-fine-dining joint with enough space, get on with your bad self. But if the restaurant asks you to put it away...just do it. Two way street, you don't have to eat there and they should be happy for business (it's why they opened), but they also don't have to permit you to do whatever you want if it's interfering with their plans for the place. And remember, THEY do kinda get to define what 'interference' is (though books are hardly high on my radar for damnable actions that ruin my meal).

feijoada. please give me feijoada! multiple bits of pork. AND beef. AND beans. a HUGE bowl and some rice? c'mon. that's the bee's knees and then some.

@Adam Kuban - Thanks. I think the provocative part of the quote is still something worth talking about, and agree with @lawofmurphy that most food blogs are about cooking AND that Choi is mostly "tilting at widmills."

The vast majority of food blogs I have seen are simply a blogger's personal relationship with food and cooking. To let any media, be it traditional, new media attached to traditional, or other bloggers, try and paint food bloggers with her broad brush in the initial portion of the quote does a disservice to all of us who simply love food and want to share our perspective with the world.

And/But while that vast majority of blogs are positive, informational and/or instructional; there are those who believe the ability to post opinions about restaurants or food on the internet justifies that opinion as well-formed. Oftentimes the coexistent beliefs that having no editor means your blog requires no technical proficiency in writing AND that your audience will be better off for having read your hatchet-job review find their way into the mix as well.

So I suppose 1)Choi's quote is misleading in-and-of itself and paints with too broad a brush; but 2) there are enough examples of her kernal of complaint to warrant use of the quote as a jumping off point to have that meta-chat about what makes good food blogs and why people might think food bloggers have some monolithic uber-foodie chip on their shoulders.

Wow, and that is WAY too much typing in my 'professional' voice and WAY too long since I wrote snark-ily.

wow. someone forgot to close their ~snark tag this morning...i have to wonder if this is a glass houses/stones thrown moment. 'cause really, as much as we all strive to do things right, eventually we get yelled at. perhaps @henryfan just hasn't had his moment yet. then again, i think with hannah's readers here, and in the immortal paraphrased words of KrisKross, 'warm it up fans. we're about to. sock it to @henryfan, 'cause that what we were born to do...'

i'm just sayin'...

@many - Chik-Fil-As must be nationwide now, they're all over the east coast, north and south...

The Lex is a great idea.

Golden West in Hampden is fantastic.

Ze Mean Bean in Fells Point's a great Eastern European joint.

Anything in Canton Square including Helen's Garden and Nacho Mama's are fun spots with local flavor.

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Ex. - you can read more about hamburgers at A Hamburger Today. The link will show up blue in the comment preview.

@hkydiva - I drove by a Wienerschnitzel once. But I was on my way to my first In-N-Out burger experience and got a little jumpy. Next time I'll do both!

@lots-o-folks - while I love Sonic, and know it started in OKC back in the day, i don't know that you can really call it regional fast food anymore. the OKC folks can get their sonic fix in LA, NY, and Huntington, WV...so...I'm just saying.

As for Sheetz...that's a tough one but I think it fits with the theme here. Not a drive thru traditional fast food place, but definitely fits the vibe of what I was going for here. Still mostly regional in the mid-atlantic/southeastern part of the country.

It has clones in other regions. Wawa's anyone?

It's a gas station/convenience store with a sandwich shop inside. Touch-screen ordering allows for the folks in the kitchen to keep moving and get it right (most of the time).

Sheetz calls its MTO (Made to Order), and includes such interstate staples as the Schmuffin (breakfast sandwich on a muffin, heh), and Schmagel (Bagel).

Wawa has soups and salads in addition to their hoagies and wraps. They've also gone the 'flatbread' route in their extra category of sandwich that seems cool trending.

@HeartofGlass - Agreed on the Dunkin' in airports. But if people want to mention them, I'm certainly not going to be comment police. They sure were a regional chain, and there are still gaggles of peeps who have never heard of them, or that if you order a "regular" coffee at a DD in New England, you're getting cream and sugar heaped in...

@Chew - Dunkin' Donuts may get a pass on the drive-thru guideline, but I think I've seen them? I live out of Dunkin' world these days. I'm in the world of Donut Connections, which really are just NOT as good.