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Well connected: the power of social food media |
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Saturday, 29 August 2009 |
The way many food lovers use the internet has graduated far beyond recipe blogs and restaurant reviews. Lisa Dempster examines the real communities assembling around the screen — and the dining table.
On a wintry Tuesday night, a group of twenty-somethings gather in a lounge room of a terrace house in Coburg. Inside, the fire is blazing and the host is serving pasta bake. Later, one of the guests will make decadent hot drinks with Monsieur Truffe dark chocolate mix and oat milk.
It could be any group of friends getting together to share a simple midweek meal — but this group didn't meet at school or work or through friends. They met online, through their food blogs.
Though there are thousands of food blogs in the world, covering topics as diverse as family recipes and molecular gastronomy, the blogs that brought this group together have a common theme: they are Melbourne-based and vegetarian, mostly vegan. So how did their relationships get off the internet and into the real world?
Developing social networks
Vegan blogger Rachel Templeman, from Miss T Princess Vegan, found the transition from blog to offline relationships simple: she read on an online forum that a local vegan potluck (bring-a-dish) meal was being organised and decided to go along. 'Someone decided that a get-together was in order,' she says simply. 'I went, and I met a group of people where some already knew each other and some were random blow-ins like me.'
Rachel considers the dynamics of these offline friendships a natural extension of her online networks. 'Commenting on someone else's blog, or having them comment on yours, is a relationship-builder,' she says. 'It makes and maintains social connections, and people's posts provide quite a lot of the topics of conversation when we do meet in person.'
Ed Charles, a journalist and social media commentator, doesn't find it surprising that these real-time social connections are springing up from food blogs. He says, 'The thing about blogs and all social media is that they are a conversation between normal people. People have always exchanged recipes and tips on where to eat.'
It's because of the conversation-like element of blogs that online relationships develop in a similar way to other social interactions. These kinds of interactions mirror the way information is exchanged in family, workplace and neighbourhood settings.
And so it is with the vegetarian and vegan bloggers (and even a few of their omnivorous partners). For these bloggers, the community they have formed goes beyond a shared interest in food or enjoying each other's company; the common bond of a commitment to ethical eating means the connections are both valued and valuable.
A new media order
Though it looks like a fun diversion on the surface, food blogs can play a very important function. With a dearth of niche dietary issues being covered in mainstream media, blogs are a way to share news and spread information.
'Most people publish blogs because they feel something is missing,' Ed Charles says. 'This applies to people who are vegetarian or have food allergies too, who are especially badly catered for by mainstream media.'
Blogs, a free and freely accessible medium, are the ideal way to fill this void, and indeed they often serve a news purpose. Although every food blogger has a different approach to what they publish online, there is a general focus on restaurant and product reviews, recipe-sharing, news and commentary on news stories. Like the chatter between friends, blogs recommend places to eat (or not eat), provide tips and advice, and debate key topics and ideas.
 Delicious treats. Image courtesy of Rachel Templeman
New media expert Brian Ward is interested in a type of blogging that he calls 'hyperlocal' — that is, local, targeted journalism that is published online, editorially independent and doesn't have a dollar value attached.
'Members of niche interest groups are now able to become their own media experts in their particular fields of expertise,' he says. 'A good local community or single interest blogger can quickly become the lead source of information about a topic and provide a leadership role in the community that forms around that topic.'
Ward sees the future of journalism shifting to these hyperlocal blogs, as more bloggers establish themselves as experts in their respective fields and audiences come to rely on them.
'Social media leaders don't just share existing information. They break original stories and establish a currency of knowledge that far exceeds that of the sum of content produced by commercial media.'
This is definitely true of Melbourne's vegan blog network. For example, stories that have circulated in the blogosphere include news that a certain brand of soy milk is no longer vegan; that a fast food chain who offer a vegan burger also cook their chips in beef tallow; and that there is a new raw food restaurant in Albert Park. It barely matters anymore that mainstream media doesn't report on vegan issues; bloggers have created their own media.
 Image courtesy of Rachel Templeman
Vegetarian restaurant Vege2go utilises the internet as part of their everyday marketing strategy. Not only do they keep their informative website constantly updated, they use Google AdWords and ensure their site is optimised for search engines, and send out an occasional e-newsletter.
They also maintain Myspace and Facebook profiles, and use this social media to keep tabs on what people are saying about them. Stefano Perfili from Vege2go says, 'We keep an eye out as best we can for any mentions we get online — for example, in blogs.' Services like Google Alerts take the hard work out of monitoring publicity online.
When Vege2go opened in early 2008, they were reviewed widely on the veg blog network. One blogger, Cindy Hauser from Where's the beef? commented that it was a shame there was only plastic cutlery available. At that time Stefano left a message saying that Vege2go actually do offer stainless steel cutlery.
So do comments and blog reviews influence the way Vege2go run their business?
'We don't necessarily interact with bloggers but we do read blogs about us and take action, if necessary.'
Ward believes this dialogue between restaurants and diners is a powerful force: 'The best bloggers gain a network of colleagues and friends and have the opportunity to motivate their peers and influence the direction of the communities and activities they write about.'
 Image courtesy of Rachel Templeman
Creating positivity about her veg diet is one of the key reasons Cindy Hauser started blogging. 'Most of my friends and family couldn't imagine what a vegetarian would eat day in, day out,' she says. 'I wanted to create a positive and attainable image of vegetarianism for them, and deliberately avoid writing anything about animal cruelty, environmental impacts or other issues that might lead to a non-veg reader feeling negatively judged, even though these issues are important to me.'
Rachel Templeman also started her blog when she was fairly new to veganism, though she takes a different approach and tackles sometimes-confronting issues head-on: 'As I thought and learnt more about veganism, I wanted an outlet to put my understanding into. The food element of my blog is fun, but it also links to the more serious topics that I want to explore — the knowledge I'm gaining about food production, nutrition and ethics.'
The difference in how Cindy and Rachel choose to represent their interests online - and the topics that they write about — is what makes food blogs so appealing to read. In a world where so much food media is dominated by a few key players, and a certain type of writer, the diversity, individuality and scope of veg food blogs is not only refreshing: it's incredibly powerful.
Lisa Dempster
Author profile: About the author
Author website: Unwakeable
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