The craze for culinary blogs

By Georges Rouzeau

Easy to set up, the blog is a fantastic means of expression, endorsed by millions of Internet users worldwide. In France, culinary blogs achieve some of the highest number of hits. Some of them are listed in the book Une souris dans le potage.

The number of blogs has skyrocketed throughout the world over the last two years. France is a great contributor, particularly through the proliferation of blogs devoted to cooking.

Fifteen culinary blogs monopolise the top steps of the podium in the ranking of the 100 most influential blogs in the land of Voltaire.

© Raphaële Vidaling

Among the best-known culinary blogs in France are Clea Cuisine, Papilles et pupilles, La cuisine de Mercotte or C'est moi qui l'ai fait, one of the first French culinary blogs which appeared back in March 2004.

95% of these new forums of expression are run, with passion and creativity, by women. A former rally driver, a bookseller, student, housewife, a former computer engineer, a student in Germany, they live in French Guyana, Canada, Portugal, Germany, Grenoble, Paris or Bordeaux. Many of them have travelled extensively. Some of them dream of making a living from cooking. All of them experience great joy in sharing and making exciting new contacts in the four corners of the world. Some have become friends in real life.

The blogs with the greatest number of hits receive up to 100 e-mails a day, from requests for clarification about recipes to letters of congratulation. Véronique Chapacou, who ran Saveurs sucrées salées (which has closed down), or Mercotte, for example, are going to write their own cookery books for traditional publication.

For Véronique Chapacou, "mad about cooking since the age of 18", the discovery of the "culinary blog" was a "revelation". After collecting recipes for 30 years on every medium you can think of (from notebook to file), she enthusiastically converted to the web. She is behind the book Une souris dans le potage (Tana Editions), which gathers together the recipes of fifteen female bloggers. She first of all assembled a pilot committee of four bloggers, who then set out to find kindred spirits on the web.

© Raphaële Vidaling

So what do they have in common? "They are all true enthusiasts who reveal a bit of themselves while imparting real practical advice that you can use at home," explains Raphaële Vidaling, who published the book after it was sent to her by e-mail.

Why such success? Because our cybernetic cordon bleus demystify chefs' cuisine. Star chefs bring out coffee-table cookery books. Their high-flying recipes, which are not necessarily difficult to make, can nevertheless overawe and dishearten the novice. It is interesting to note that most of these bloggers are not great collectors of cookbooks - they prefer action, "throwing things together", messing around and having fun.

Moreover, many of them are wives and mothers and have to get to work in the kitchen without any soul-searching: the kids are starving! Then there are children's allergies to be taken into account: Anne Lapaillade has started, in addition to her standard blog, Papilles et pupilles, another one devoted solely to recipes for her allergy-suffering children that are egg-, milk- and gluten-free. This one has also met with great success.

© Raphaële Vidaling

The practical and direct side of many recipes, the clarity of the explanations and the possibility of asking the author a question appeal greatly to Internet users. The numerous personal anecdotes create a real attachment to the blog and its author. For all that, the sophistication and refinement of certain creations compel admiration. The superb photographs in these blogs, which are very professional, testify (as on Frédérique Despature's Frais !) that cooking should be the stuff of dreams.

Keeping a culinary blog is like writing a diary. The blogger is constantly on the alert, always on the lookout for a new emotion to record or flavour to recreate, like a diarist who lives only to write. Notebook and pen are always to hand, as is the camera.

Keeping a blog has even changed their way of living and eating. Véronique, of Saveurs sucrées salées, humorously complains of eating food cold because of the long drawn-out photo sessions. As for Tasca de Elvira, she is really delighted that "Our diet has become a lot more inventive and varied".

Preparing shopping lists in advance, becoming better organised with a view to the publication of the next posting: could the culinary blog be the best friend of the modern woman?

In the next edition of the magazine, we will devote an article to culinary blogs in Europe (outside France).