First glance at this food blog page, and you see the big, orange smile. It kind of plays around with your head because it’s almost a direct juxtaposition to the “Serious” in the blog’s title. Hmm. Interesting. Next thing that pops up to your eyes is a huge, fresh scallion pancake that fills almost ¼ of the page. Your mouth starts watering. But you can’t stop scrolling and staring down the page because the colorful graphics and large, easy-to-read font are unfairly attention-grabbing. You can no longer resist; you give in and a couple of hours pass by as you surrender willingly into the lures of this blog.

Founded by Ed Levine in December 2006, Serious Eats is a food blog/community that houses critiques, discussions, and news related to foods and the food industry. Its main objective is to appreciate and promote the love of food that is shared by people of all backgrounds, all classes, all ages, and all walks of life.  Although many of the posts are authored by the site’s faculty, such as Erin Zimmer (national editor) and Carrie Vasios (community manager), much of the blog’s posts are by different contributors—i.e.: Niko Triantafillou, the founder of Dessert Buzz. This kind of variety in authors provides a larger spectrum of opinions and ensures that the most experienced and qualified critiques share their views.

If we were to strip this food blog of all its photos, there would be absolutely nothing colorful.  Besides the dull baby blue columns on the sides, there is not much to give forth brilliant color. From what I can conclude, this might actually be purposely designed to draw greater attention to the beauty of the displayed foods. The background, it seems, is not meant to distract us viewers from what the site tries to praise.

One of my most favorite aspects of this blog is its formatting—everything is so accessible. The actual font is larger than the standard size 12 norm; its refreshing straightforwardness, like the page’s plain colors, serves to highlight the photos of the food itself. For each blog, the category, author, date of publication, and the number of comments are mention to the left hand side. This saves the viewer the hassle of searching the website in and out to find basic information of the post. What’s really surprising about a popular blog like this is that it doesn’t have many advertisements for viewers to complain about. Other than one Arby’s advertisement that appears on the main/home page, there has not been much of an appearance of others.

When browsing through the page, it’s astonishing to notice that per each day there are almost thirty posts that are published. The high frequency of posts proves that this food blog is actually one of the most active ones out there. Even though they all have the common denominator of food, Serious Eats’s post vary from talking about of “What Chefs Drink At Home” to reviews on cookbooks like “Ottolenghi” to much, much more. At other instances, posts can be polls asking questions like “do you like your burger toppings above or below the beef?” I love this light-heartedness and this fearlessness to blog without many restraints. Rather than discussing topics that may tempt the readers to sleep, Serious Eats makes sure that their blog posts are concise, catchy, and clear.

As mentioned earlier, the graphics for this food blog website mostly consists of beautiful shots of foods such as Sons’s warm chocolate tart and pies made of pumpkin, alfredo, and eggplant.  The close-up angle that these photos are taken really emphasize on the detail of the foods. But whatever food is being photographed, I’ve noticed that the background behind it so simple—a plain, white plate or a common wooden table. This conscious choice is taken to emphasize on the exquisiteness of the actual foods.

Even though the language of this food blog is relatable and unpretentious, there isn’t much joking or sarcasm that I’ve noticed other blogs have. It retains a decent, un-offensive reputation by doing so. Their use of “we” and “you” creates a sense of informality that makes the viewer more at ease.

From visiting this site, I am more informed about the best restaurant locations in the city, how to prepare over twenty appetizers with apple as my main ingredient, news about a restaurant in Flushing closing down, and so much more. Although I am “learning,” Serious Eats seems to have an un-imposing, un-intimidating way of conveying these new “lessons” or “news” to me. The site does not make me laugh out loud with any witty banter, but it doesn’t bore me with tedious, dull talks either.

The majority of the comments that appear on these posts are very similar to what any recipe website receives—the usual one-liner “yum” or “that looks so good” but everyday people. They ensure a sense of casualness that Serious Eats seems to want to promote. The traffic that Serious Eats reels in is INCREDIBLE –approximately 166,540 people view this site every day! According to Google page-ranks, it holds 7 out of 10 as its level in popularity. It’s simple: people love food, simplicity, and beauty—and Serious Eats has all of this and MORE to offer!

So next time you have a couple of hours to spare, take a stroll through Serious Eats! You won’t be disappointed. 🙂