Two new food blogs worth bookmarking

Two very different new food blogs have caught my eye recently, for very different reasons.

That’s not lettuce is written very much the way its creator Melissa Yen thinks about food: Constantly and from every angle. Our too infrequent conversations may occasionally veer away from food, but they always hurry back. Buying it, growing it, making it [at home or for paying customers], enjoying it [in restaurants or at the tables of friends and family]…

A former owner of the much missed Vella Cafe here in Chicago, Melissa’s first food job in a long line of them was in her aunt’s restaurant when she was eleven. She’s also been involved in the Logan Square Farmers Market. So when she says that thing that all food bloggers say, “I am someone who is absolutely passionate about food,” I think she has a little more history to back up those words than some of us do—certainly than I do.

That’s not lettuce is a refreshingly eclectic mix of restaurants here and elsewhere, dinner parties with friends, the occasional recipe and stories from the road—of shamelessly [proudly?] pigging out at food trucks in Austin, Texas, for instance. Reading Melissa’s writing is like listening to her talk—friendly, fun and, yes, “absolutely passionate about food.” Check out that’s not lettuce. You’ll see what I mean.

Often when I look for things to read, I want something that takes me outside of my world, lets me vicariously explore paths I’m not likely to travel on my own. Travel books do that for armchair travelers, taking them to exotic destinations in the comfort of their own homes.

For home cooks like me prone to occasionally fantasizing about being “in the life,” Amy Bandolik’s blog Delicious Thursdays lets us be armchair chefs/bakers/cheesemakers/ice cream vendors and more. Each week, Amy takes on one of these roles, not as a half-hour photo op, but putting in a full, often grueling day—or night, as the case may be.

Her “4 years [and counting!] of working as a culinary tour guide for Foods of New York Tours” has given her an insider’s perspective on how we get fed. It’s also given her special access, I’m guessing, to places that make it happen—restaurants, dairies, pizzerias, farms… More important, it’s given her the hunger to know more. She’s taking us along on what she sees as a year-long project. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got my armchair ready. Follow Amy’s adventures at Delicious Thursdays. [And while you’re at it, check out photographer Sandy Hechtman’s website. He does much of the photography for Amy’s blog.]