Food blogs have a history that reaches back to the beginnings of the internet. While the net was originally a sharing tool for scientists and engineers, it wasn’t long before these tech-savvy individuals began using it to share recipes via bulletin boards and newsgroups. Brian K. Reid’s newsgroup, alt. gourmand, began in 1986. After the English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web in 1990, the sharing continued, with food-oriented websites such as Global Gourmet launching in 1994 and Condé Nast’s Epicurious appearing by 1995.
The term web log appeared in 1997, the year that American musician Jim Jeff launched Chowhound with the first instalment of “What Jim had for dinner”. Considered the first food blog, it still exists as a commercial website, having changed ownership several times. The American pastry chef David Lebovitz launched his eponymous website in 1999. That was the year the abbreviated term “blog” emerged, with easy-to-use web tools such as Blogger allowing non-geeks to write online diary-style posts.
It took a few years for the food blogging movement to take off in Australia but in 2003 Celeste and Hui Ong launched their restaurant and cafe review website, Eatability. The following year, Helen Yee’s Grab Your Fork became one of Australia’s first food blogs, documenting restaurant meals, cafe visits, and local food culture. Yee was Sydney-based. By the end of 2004, there were around a dozen Australian food blogs.
Numbers continued to climb. By 2010, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that there were an estimated 660 food blogs Australia-wide, with most bloggers based in Melbourne or Sydney. That year, the Australian Association of Food Professionals created a new category of Best Australian Food Blog in their Food Media Awards.
Initially, food blogs were labours of love. There were no advertisements or sponsored posts. Bloggers were just putting their thoughts out there without spending hours on search engine optimisation and analytics. Food bloggers had their own communities, even organising special events and meet-ups. That has changed. For many, their blog is now a source of revenue. In fact, one of Australia’s leading food blogs, Recipe Tin Eats, was created in 2014 by Nagi Maehashi as an alternative to her career in high finance.
Blogs come and go. Many of the early blogs have either sold out to commercial enterprises or have simply lapsed through lack of interest. Nevertheless, they have changed the face of food media. Once, for restaurant reviews or recipes, we had to rely on newspapers and magazines, Good Food Guides, and cookery books from the glossy to the cheapo charity pamphlet supporting the local state school. Now, we’re more likely to rely on peer reviews of restaurants or turn to Google search to find a recipe. It’s a win for people power and another blow for print media.
By the way, you could categorise this Australian Food History Timeline as a food blog, even though it has no restaurant reviews and very few recipes. I started writing it back in 2013. Unlike many, it’s still strictly non-commercial. Enjoy.