In terms of finding places to try, write about and recommend, I’d have to say that I hardly deserve the credit for “finding” these things. I depend on all of my friends, many of whom know much more about food than I do, to guide me to the places I end up loving and writing about. When it comes to things like BBQ and fried chicken I need no assistance, but on any other type of food it’s highly likely I’m relying on sources to shape my tastes and knowledge of the foods and the cultures behind them. I like to think of my blog as part filter, part discovery, and I hope the experience of trying to make sense of things from the ground up comes across in whatever I write. If there’s one thing I am NOT, that would be a food expert.

Anyway, you’re as close as I can think of to the polar opposite of that guy.

First, you love food, and you love its history and context, which is not something you get a lot of most other places. The column-length format. I agree about the Yahoo! Sports columnists, the comparison definitely rings a bell. They’re about the only sports anything that I consistently read. It’s mostly because of the quality of the writing and the strength of focus within each column, while maintaining a broad reach in the columnist’s gaze overall.

You write like hell, that’s for sure. That helps enormously, and the style you use fits the format well.

I really trust your judgment food-wise. You’ve steered me to some of the best, coolest places I’ve ever eaten. Just took my girlfriend to Jodie’s, in fact. You keep finding these great weird places (I have no idea how you do that) that are both offbeat and sound delicious.

More importantly though, you put these places in context with the whole enterprise of eating, as you see it, which includes a lot more than just the food. Comfort food, how eating fits into life, all of that, and damn. Anyway, you might know better than I do what I’m talking about, and it comes through in sincerity in about everything you’ve written about, and a complete willingness to ignore what’s supposed to be good and just eating it.

Okay, that last bit is a little more fuzzy, but it’s really clear that you love food, and everything about it. Oh, and if you’re ever in the area and want to try some damn good barbeque, there’s a place called Smoque up here in Chicago that is seriously great.

Knife, thanks for the link. Interesting stuff. I’m definitely going to be reigning in the width of the column a bit, but nowhere near optimal readability. Hopefully a couple small changes will go a long way in easing the strain on the eyes, though.

Zakhar, good call on the column analogy. I’ll do my best to commit to a regular posting date and use Twitter for microblogging and other purposes. If I can work out things out well enough I’d like to eventually make this a group blog with a different food column from a different writer in a different part of the world each day. There are a lot of issues to work out, but definitely fertile ground you’re touching on here. In terms of marketing, I have a great social bookmarking widget installed but am not sure if anyone ever uses it. I feel like simply passing links along works best in terms of growing readership. I do send in links to a few sites but really don’t put too much emphasis on one-off traffic magnets. Now that I’m in New York and getting better acquainted with the community, I’m going to start contributing more to other blogs and become a more active member of the food blogosphere.

Soopling, thanks for commenting! My writing style will definitely not change… not sure if that’s possible, even :P I hope you continue to enjoy the blog.

Foodhoe, I’m glad that you’re still following along. Thanks for the comment on the aesthetic of the site; I did put a lot of thought into it and I’m glad that it hasn’t gone unnoticed!

Mallory, thanks for the breakdown. Fortunately, the personality part of the blog is the easiest part for me! In terms of regular content, I do think I’ve been pretty good about posting once per week, if not on a reliable timetable. I’ll definitely work towards more consistency, though. I’ll be taking note of the link you suggested, and I already have my own ideas on how to best use Twitter to my advantage (it involves lots of photos!).

Wontons, I thought about whether or not I was going to post negative reviews when I started the blog. I kind of decided that it would be irrelevant to the greater task at hand. I have done a few negative posts, but since I’m so far removed from conventional review style I’m not sure I’ll be working harder to be clear on my take of a place. In general, though, I like most of the things I write about :)

Liat, thanks for chiming in! I have pondered in the past over how to make my past entries more accessible. The key compromise I’m not willing to make is on the design of the site. I’ll revisit the idea with some more design experienced friends and see what I can come up with…

Abby, that’s a sweet thing to say. I do not plan on cutting out blogging to write the book, and I am definitely planning on having my first manuscript done by the end of the summer, at which point I hope to make a second road trip through the South to do more research and conduct field interviews to really enrich the book. I hope to make 4-5 trips total before being ready for publication in early 2010. Hopefully by the time Autumn is in full swing I will have an agent and some kind of contract! Thanks for the support. I spent some time with Ric in Austin and we were talking about a BBQ place in Bed-Stuy… investigation will follow shortly.

Confessions of a restaurant whore was great in its prime.

I like experts–people who tend to know where to get the best foods, cheapest foods, best valued gadgets, and most relevant recipes. I am also a serious eater, so I appreciate tangible descriptions of meals, step-by-step cooking processes, and fabulously divey restaurants.

2. I like your writing, plain and simple. You have also opened my eyes to several avenues of affordable cuisines that I had never even bothered approaching because I thought they were mundane and reproducible.

3. I read whenever you update. It is easy to keep up since that does not happen on a daily basis. I would read less of it if there was too much content and not enough substance, but I think the balance is perfect.

4. Eaten Path is a carefully crafted narrative of a meal. Sometimes it is about the journey to get to the meal and other times it is about the meal itself.

5. If you stopped writing it. For me, it is mostly about the person behind the blog whose opinions and thoughts that I value.

6. I like interacting, commenting, and looking at pictures. I think better indexing of past entries, favorite entries, series are always welcome.

2. Why do you like this blog?
High-res food pr0n. That said, I like that it takes a bit more effort to digest your commentary than, say, clicking through a bunch of food pictures in a Flickr photo community. You also seem to write these long sentences that flow really well.

3. Why would you say you read this blog regularly? Why is it worth subscribing to and spending time on?
I read them because I’m always getting notified on FB, Twitter, LJ, etc. I like to live vicariously, especially knowing I won’t be doing the traveling and exciting eating that you will.

4. What would you tell someone else is the point of this blog? What does “The Eaten Path” mean? Do I have a target audience?
I’d tell someone that, if they want to read about how food tastes, this is probably not the blog for them. However, if they want to read about how food FEELS, this is the blog for that. “The Eaten Path,” as a name, conjures up images of a time-worn, experienced eater, which, although you’re not exactly time-worn, makes sense to me.

5. What would make you stop reading this blog?
Once you stop posting the pictures, I’ll stop reading. If you start talking about fromage and pate and Michelin-ratings, I’m outta here.

6. If you had two changes to recommend for The Eaten Path, what would they be? This can be anything, from content to site design to how I respond to comments or market the blog on other sites (which, admittedly, I do very little of).
Mmmm, sometimes I can’t tell whether you liked what you ate. Also, could you blog about places where you ate and you didn’t like it?

I occasionally check veganyumyum.com and la.eater.com, though I mostly use blogs as recipe resources or as picture inspiration when throwing together my own food. On a regular basis I watch communities on livejournal that are food related: bakebakebake, a bento box community, and ofmornings (where posters put up pictures of their everyday breakfasts). I like food blogs that feature food accessible to the common man – chitchat that is constantly gourmet is boring to me because it’s inaccessible (though I do occasionally like to hear about crazy things, like $65 cups of kopi luwak/monkey poo coffee). I check Yelp for reviews before heading off somewhere, though I mostly use the reviews for their objective info – parking, operating hours, prices – than for the subjective whining.

2. Why do you like this blog?/3. Why would you say you read this blog regularly? Why is it worth subscribing to and spending time on?

I like the clean, easy to navigate format. The black background and the design of the site are unoffensive (though I do have trouble with the pull down menu options). Your writing always gives your food context – I like that dumplings and cocktails don’t live in a black void. I feel your posts also have a personal touch to them that makes your stories half about the food and half about your adventures/challenges/etc. I would say the personality you infuse into your posts is the most important aspect of adding reader interest value to your blog.

4. What would you tell someone else is the point of this blog? What does “The Eaten Path” mean? Do I have a target audience?

I see The Eaten Path as your life’s journey through food. The point – to share experiences and experiments. I’m a nosy human being, at least on the internet, so I enjoy hearing about living (and eating) in different places. I feel like as it stands now, the main drive of the blog is you. Sort of like how No Reservations on the Travel Channel is based on food and travel, but is largely Anthony Bourdain.

In terms of demographics – age, sex, race, income – I don’t feel that your blog has a clear target audience. It might be worth it to see if there are any market research reports online detailing target demographics for food and travel readers (to see what is popular now to which groups).

5. What would make you stop reading this blog?

If your posts became too sporadic. My favorite blogs to read are those that combine interesting content with frequency.

6. If you had two changes to recommend for The Eaten Path, what would they be? This can be anything, from content to site design to how I respond to comments or market the blog on other sites (which, admittedly, I do very little of).

Market yourself on a bigger scale. Sell yourself like a food blogging whore. I think Twitter is obnoxious, but once I get my blogging act together I’m thinking of following the tips on this blog for blog publicity: http://www.rachel-levy.com/how-do-you-syndicate-a-blog-or-website/

“-It’s a blog about everyday foods and the places that sustain them.
-It’s a blog about food and travel.
-It’s a food porn storybook. Porn comes in words, too!”

I don’t really see these bullets as three separate routes. Big pretty pictures are essential (in my opinion) to (the best) food blogs. I don’t think your website should become a picture book, as you have valuable things to say about your pictures. And I don’t think you should ditch your travel food writing. If this were a book, I might say otherwise, but I think the greatest value of your blog is the way in which you filter food experiences – both local and in distant lands.

I read a bunch of food blogs regularly: mmm-yoso/austin bush photography/ethicurian/gastronomy/eating asia/chez pim/cooking with the single guy/passionate eater/eggs to the apples/rubber slippers in italy (dang almost all asian authors). I obsessively like to read about what people are eating and cooking. The Eaten Path comes from a different perspective. I like the writing, your sense of irony and that you tend towards greasy fried foods and bacon… and poetry even! There are so many NY food blogs but you have a distinct voice and like to follow not the beaten path but the eaten path.

With RSS feeds and google reader, it’s technically not that difficult to keep up… but yeah, regular posts are good. I would stop reading if you stopped posting, or radically changed the topic to just sports or cocktails. phew ok i’m done ta!