- Three years ago, Marisa McClellan and Scott McNulty started broadcasting their cooking adventures online from a Philadelphia apartment.
- Since then, competition among food bloggers has exploded quicker than a pot pie at 450 degrees.
Published 20:21, September the 14th, 2009
Hungry? Food blogs here to serve
"When we started, there were a handful of food blogs," McClellan said of her Fork You podcasts. "Now, there's as many as 50, maybe more. And things get broken down into smaller niches."
With the city in the midst of another Restaurant Week, it's never been so easy to find out what's good, what's unique and what's plain boring. There's a blog for everything these days: from Philly farmers' markets (Phillyfoodfeed) to the best city sandwiches (Unbreaded) to cheese (Madamefromage).
It makes sense since everyone talks about food, according to Unbreaded co-creator Jeff Vogel.
"Just in course of regular conversations about food and blogging, we thought sandwiches were an interesting niche not explored yet," said Vogel, who next month is teaming with Esquire magazine to do a national contest called "Sandwich Smash" in Center City. "
Philly's culinary scene is also attracting out-of-towners. New York magazine launched a Philadelphia edition of its food blog, Grub Street, hiring a local food critic in July.
"Readership has skyrocketed in past couple years," New York Web editor Aileen Gallagher said. "Getting into the niche thing is the smartest way to go. The guy whose our L.A. editor used to do a blog just on tacos."
