LA Times Covers Foodblogging, Shuns LA Foodblogs
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 13:26Far be it for me to tell the LA Times how to run their paper, but looking at today’s innocuous article about food blogging, I thought I would drop some unsolicited advice.
Let’s look at what the LA Times suggests, versus what I suggest:
They Say: The Accidental Hedonist from a former aspiring stand-up comic.
I say: The Delicious Life from a former office worker.
They Say: I Was Just Really Very Hungry from a Japanese-born food lover in Switzerland
I say: Best of LA from a local born food lover in Los Angeles
They Say: Slice NY As in a list of places to get pizza in New York?
I say: Low End Theory’s LA Restaurants As in a list of places to get any kind of food in Los Angeles.
They Say: White Trash BBQ, a Brooklynite on the BBQ competition circuit.
I say: BBQ Junkie a Los Angelino on the hunt for delicious BBQ.
They Say: Burrito Eater reviews of San Francisco taquerias
I say: The Great Taco Hunt reviews of Los Angeles taquerias and taco trucks.
They Say: Deep End Dining, close encounters with Southern California’s most challenging dishes.
I say: They’re right
They Say: Balmy Duck reviews boxed cake mixes.
I say: Gross, get good cooking advice from Erin’s Kitchen.
They Say: Nothing about la.foodblogging
I say: Throw us a bone!
Edit I should note that I have nothing against the blogs linked in the LA Times article. In fact, many of them are quite good. I am suspicious of the LA Times though and their inability to root out local food blogs for their local readers. Perhaps that’s not their goal…
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
SoCalorie says:
January 4th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Perhaps their freelancer isn’t from LA or just awoke from a deep sleep in a casket. Their coverage of entertainment bloggers is even more amusing.
Tim K says:
January 4th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
The article is a “special to The Times” which believe is the new, fancy way to say “AP.”
For what it’s worth I was miffed for you that this site wasn’t mentioned!
Jonah says:
January 4th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Thanks Tim, I’m not sure how disconnected Avital Binshtock is from the LA Times though, Avital shows up as an associate editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
I’m 50% miffed that we were left out and 50% miffed that the LA Times readers missed an opportunity to discover some of the local blogs I listed above.
SoCalorie says:
January 4th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
You have a good handle on local bloggers after years of tracking them so I trust your take on bloggers more than the Times anyway.
That story is a really good example of how LA Times neither serves its own community well nor is it competitive with NY Times. It falls short either way and that neither here nor there conundrum applies to many areas of its daily coverage.
Robert - WhiteTrash BBQ says:
January 4th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
I picked up on all the NY based food blogs as well. Maybe the food folks in NY are a little more anal and singleminded than the bloggers of LA.
I don’t think it was a slap at the local LA bloggers, it’s just that the blogosphere knows no boundaries. We can be based anywhere and still hopefully put out an interesting blog.
I personally enjoy the BBQ Junkie’s blog and read it regularly. He’s my guide to BBQ on the West Coast. I’ll point you to another LA area blogger that you should check out, Neil from the Survivial Gourmet. Check him out at http://thesurvivalgourmet.com/.
Or of course you can get to both of them from this Brooklynites blog Http://whitetrashbbq.blogspot.com
Nic says:
January 4th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
I think that the author of the post is actually an associate art/photography editor or something. You think that she would have chosen to go the “good LA food photography route.”
Nice effort, but not a great one.
Erin says:
January 4th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
Love the "They Say, I say" list, and thanks for the compliment! I mention this in my post about the article here,
but thought I’d post here as well–there was that article earlier in December about local blogs in the Calendar section that mentioned a few food blogs, so perhaps that was the reason for the lack of locals? Still I think a few more Angelenos were in order, particularly in the case of tacos, bbq, and the fabulous la.foodblogging. Shouldn’t the local paper be a resource for the community above all else?
Travis Smith says:
January 4th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
Candy Blog, mentioned in the article, is run by L.A.-inhabiting blogger Cybele and is doing spectacularly well since it launched last year.
http://www.typetive.com/candyblog
I know ’cause I helped build it.
Rachael says:
January 5th, 2006 at 6:26 am
I agree with you all. That was a lousy article. She special to The Times writer they entrusted with this, graduated from J-school last year too. What a drag.
Oh well. Enough sour grapes.
I wrote all about actual LA Based bloggers once here:
Cheers!
Jonah says:
January 5th, 2006 at 7:41 am
WhitetrashBBQ- I agree with you that blogs can be interesting no matter where they are based. I think that as a local food section though, how many people need to know where to find the best San Francisco taco shops, rather than the best Los Angeles taco shops? I certainly take nothing away from the blogs mentioned, more power to them.
One of the Orange County blogs mentioned, Pho-King points out that the author didn’t even bother to fact check who actually runs his site.
Travis - I was happy to see Candy Blog mentioned, Cybele continues to create great content, and the pictures are fantastic!
The Survival Gourmet says:
January 5th, 2006 at 7:55 am
I was tickled pink that my friend at WhiteTrash BBQ was mentioned, but outside of that, where were the L.A. blogs?
Where was Soul Fusion Kitchen, BBQ Junkie or You Gonna Eat That?
Shut out by our own paper. *sigh*
cybele says:
January 5th, 2006 at 10:53 am
I kind of sighed when I saw the listing as it did seem to list odd things that were NY-centric (not that Slice isn’t a good blog) when there were good LA based ones that filled a similar niche. I understand how la.foodblogging was not included as the article was about micro-focused blogs (though not all mentioned were actually singularly minded).
Jonah, your list is spot on! I love The Delicious Life’s photos too, even if I don’t read the articles right away, just browsing the page is a delight.
(Of course I was happy to be included and REALLY surprised when I saw the print edition with the huge screengrab.)
Jonah - looks like it’s time to update the blogroll with some of these!
BBQ Junkie says:
January 5th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
First off, thanks for the shout outs. They are much appreciated.
I actually had a phone interview with this LA Times writer back in September for this article. Her intent was to write about blogs with a singular focus from all over the country. The article was supposed to be published a couple of weeks later. Weeks went by and, prompted by my wife, I sent her an email asking her what had happened to the article. I received an automated reply stating that she was no longer reachable at the LA Times email address. I thought she might have left the Times, but now this article appears a few months later. Funny how the opening line is “when food blogging was new (about 15 minutes ago),� when the article was written months ago.
Yeah, sure it should be about LA Food blogs, but any mainstream press on blogging is good for all of us in terms of visibility and traffic increases. And, yes, it could have been a little more insightful but it wasn’t. The irony is that this is why we blog, because the big boys don’t get it. If they did, they would also be blogging.
sarah says:
January 5th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
“The irony is that this is why we blog, because the big boys don’t get it. If they did, they would also be blogging. ”
couldn’t have put it better, bbqjunkie.
oh! and thanks for the nice words about The DL, all!
(and congrats to jonah and all the la.foodbloggers for making the final round in the FBAs!)
SoCalorie says:
January 5th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Here’s to global candy domination on CandyBlog! You make LA foodbloggers proud. But riddle me this: Is regional food coverage a broader topic than candy? One may be single minded but the other has narrow geographic parameters.
A search of “Los Angeles food” results in 44,200,000 hits. “Candy” gets 46,800,000. It’s a squeaker! “Chocolate” wins by a long shot with 63,500,000.
Zteve says:
January 5th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
It sucks, but its par for the course. Larger media tends to pick up on the information they find and the topics they cover based on a very wide and shallow landscape, and blogging certainly fits that criteria. With thousands of food related sites, she picked blogs that were either her personal reads, friends recommendations, or ones that provide regional coverage. Clearly, an article written for Los Angeles consumption should have focused on blogs that feature LA restaurants, but I can’t ding her for covering food related blogs that incidentally are somewhere else. Braised short ribs can be made anywhere in the world.
eatdrinknbmerry says:
January 5th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
I’m sure the next article written in any major publication such as LA Times or LA Weekly will definitely list more specific sites within our LA foodblog community. This was written hastily without deep research. If someone at LA Weekly should write about us, I think we’d get a better response from readers since it’s a subculture publication, vs. the LA TImes. But i think it’s nice that we’ve recognized the best bloggers in our community. It’s all that matters.
Kristy says:
January 5th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Thanks Jonah for including me in the mix. I’m sure that LA Weekly or maybe even Los Angeles Magazine might pick us up one of these days. ;) Hmm…I should email my one contact over there and give him a heads up! You gotta love Angelenos who support other Angelenos. *muah*
By the way, when and where’s the next meet up?
Sylvie says:
January 5th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I concur with all of you. When I first say the heading on the article, I just knew Rachael had gotten through to them when we were shunned a few months ago, then after reading,
I was depressed. They missed the boat again.
With so many very taleneted and interesting L.A. bloggers, had the writer truly understood what she was researching, she should have noted those she missed.
Rachael says:
January 6th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Here is a crazy, wacky question (and not one I personally am prepared to follow through with, but maybe it will light someone elses fire)
How does one pitch an idea for an article to The Times? Does that happen for papers, or just magazines? Im no writer myself, but heavens, a lot of you are! Why not go for it?
xoxox - Rachael
Marty Fitz says:
January 6th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
This is all sour grapes. Almost everyone complaining (on this and other LA food sites) either have food blogs that were not in the article or involved with food websites which also were overlooked or simply didn’t meet the author’s criteria of “specialized”. And it’s odd to complain so much and then claim that the LA Times is no big deal and no authority on this anyway. You wouldn’t be so hurt if it didn’t mean so much to you. Listen to Rachael and move on.
Sweetnicks says:
January 6th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
Congrats to all that were mentioned. :)
Sylvie says:
January 6th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Marty Fitz- What is your blog?
cookiecrumb says:
January 6th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Bravo! Good piece. See, this is why the corporate media are increasingly irrelevant. (Plus, they’re *scared* of blogs!)
I don’t know why Marty Fitz is a grinch, though.
cheers from the Bay Area
cc
Jonah says:
January 6th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Sour grapes would be “this article sucks” without anymore content. I have done LA Times’ work for them and offered up some alternatives with local sites cross referenced.
Also, without any disclaimer, the sites mentioned in the article are all worth reading in their own right.
SoCalorie says:
January 6th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Sour grapes is a marching into the LA Times with a dumpster full of Fat Burger and Zankou grease and trashing the Food section desks. (Okay, maybe not Russ Parsons’s, but only because you like him, Erin).
Here’s why that story is a disservice to any locals who read the Food section:
Los Angeles is a huge city.
You don’t just stumble onto new places walking from the subway to your house. You have to research new places, map the locations and get into your car and go find them.
Los Angeles also happens to be brimming over with little tiny restaurants offering cuisine from all over the world.
Helping Angelenos find these places and providing invaluable contextual information about the cuisine types is, sadly for all of us, not something the LA Times has a knack for doing.
Maybe they don’t have the resources. Maybe they’d rather cater to their 50-something home subscriber demographic by writing up all the five-star joints. Whatever.
Fortunately, there are hundreds of food bloggers in LA who offer their knowledge, time, interest, prose, photos, tips and passion without any strings attached (no subscription fees, no login requirements).
Bloggers offer this information for free, not because we lack something better to do (as the Times arrogantly suggests), but because we love the topics, we love the city, and we want to share it and exchange insights with other people who do too.
So, if you’re the Food section and you’re going to publish a story about niche food blogs, why not recommend local sites that will actually help Angelenos get to know their city and its wealth of food offerings a little bit better?
Zteve says:
January 7th, 2006 at 12:03 am
Argh, sour grapes. Sour grapes, all! You writers induce me to fart with yer petty jealousies and discontented fiefdoms. Huh, couldn’t pay off the right reporter, eh?
Anyone who remarks on this article is dealing with their own tiny, flapping inadequacies.
Pop a chuck of wackballs, strap on a bucket of real, and get in the here.
SoCalorie says:
January 7th, 2006 at 12:46 am
Fitz can’t hear you. It’s ladies night all week at blogs are for wimps.
Poppy says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:38 am
To: Socalorie & Co
>”why not recommend local sites that will actually help Angelenos get to know their city”
Because: even though LA TIMES has a superb staff for FOOD section, the weenies who OWN the paper are elsewhere –Chicago. They “manage” the paper, IMO, WITH the stereotypes of: California. THEY are clueless. LOS ANGELES newspaper doing article on Food Blogs: should be about food IN Los Angeles, sheesh. If Russ Parsons, et al, had done the article: it WOULD have been about Los Angeles blogs on LA food only. Believe it.
The comments about main-stream media not getting
it right: IS why blogs –niche blogs, are popular. If blogs mimiced major media: who’d read the blogs? Right now mainstream media doesn’t seem to get their own mission: they need to tack to their core –watching government, protecting democracy, exposing bums –for us, so we CAN blog. They’re scared, but they shouldn’t be: every generation turns to them, eventually. We need to support them –buy a national & a local –Every day, and subscribe, to at least one and/or: click on relevant ads when you read on-line, so they CAN survive to protect us.
To the one who wants to pitch idea to the TIMES: write out entire idea.
-Leave it awhile
-Go back and edit it, till it’s polished; above it: summarize the idea/piece in one -two sentences (–as though you were explaining to someone you wanted to impress –who is in a hurry)
-In a few days: re-read.
-If it turns you on: call the TIMES main # (–not before a holiday or deadline), ask for
‘Food’: whoever answers will tell you how/if you can submit. If they don’t want it: pitch another.
phol says:
May 18th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
jut ran across a new cafe in Santa Monica - 16th/Wilshire - called Cafe Zella… great bakery goods, good fresh made sandwiches and the best choco truffles! nice addition to the neighborhood…