why i am a fan of i am a food blog

Landing on the site iamafoodblog.com will be simultaneously one of the best and worst decisions of your life. Best, because it is a well-run food blog with a sizzling aesthetic, great narration, and recipes for delicious food. Worst– well, because landing on this blog means you will immediately be hungry.

iamafoodblog

 

i am a food blog is an award-winning food blog run by food writer and chef Stephanie Le. Among some of the best food blogs on the web, Le’s i am a food blog has recently won Saveur’s 2014 Best Blog of the Year, and also helped Le land a contract to publish her recently released cookbook easy gourmet.

i am a food blog aims to perform at the top level of what most food blogs desire to achieve–a combination of the best food photography, most interesting stories, and mouth-watering recipes. Le’s blog in particular tends to balance the mass appeal of foods like noodles, potatoes, bacon, and breakfast foods with a desire to replicate the highest of dining experiences. Add a pinch of Japanese influence, and the kitchy yet high-quality cuisine of Stephanie Le is born. Le’s dynamic style attracts the attention of a wide variety of foodies, likely with a big following coming from the DIY and food-loving Millenials especially.

Stephanie Le’s i am a food blog stands out for more than just its recipes and photography. As Nina Burleigh points out in her article What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women, the tech industry is largely male dominated. Not only is Le a successful blogger, but she is also a published author, chef, and freelance artist. And yet, Le has done all of this without sacrificing her personality or humanity. Le’s blog reminds us that food culture and conversation can exist outside of the framework of consumerism and aesthetic elitism. You don’t have to go to a four-star restaurant, take cooking classes, or purchase a cable subscription to Food Network to be able to cook and eat great food.  Food blogs provide a virtually free and easy-to-access platform for learning and talking about food. Not only that, but they also encourage the infusion of personality into virtual public spaces, offering ways to engage with each other and restore meaning to our online communications.

Le’s design of i am a food blog is simple, high-contrast, and bold. i am a food blog immediately engulfs the viewer with salivating food imagery upon entering the site. After the initial high-impact landing, Le’s blog easily flows into a simple tile design of her latest posts to encourage further reading. With only one basic navigation panel that alternates between a header position and a left column position as you shift to and from different types of pages, Le’s design balances minimalism with novelty and finesse. Further, Le’s employment of clean design and professional-quality photography help attract her demographic of young DIY foodies, especially in this day and age where posting pictures of food has become increasingly popular on social media across the spectrum. Altogether, Le’s design succeeds in producing an easy-to-navigate site attractive to her food-loving Millennial demographic.

Technologies used:

  • HTML version: XHTML 1.0 Transitional
  • Content management: WordPress
  • Additional technologies: CSS, Javascript
  • Stylesheets: main, fonts