Top Austin Food Blogs

Austin has a very active food blog community; in making up this Top 10, I sifted through close to 200 local sites. To be perfectly fair (and despite their undisputed excellence!), I've decided to mention, but not include, the food blogs of the Chronicle staff: Claudia Alarcón's Chile y Limón Adventures, Wes Marshall's Wes on Wine, Lee Nichols' I Love Beer, and my own blog, Hungersauce.

1) EDIBLE ARIA (www.ediblearia.com) This blog's modest goal is to describe the author's "efforts to eat a mostly healthy (hopefully), interesting diet on a reasonable budget," but the content goes so much further: gorgeous photos and exciting, well-written recipes posted on a daily basis.

2) AUSTIN FOOD JOURNAL (www.austinfoodjournal.com) This blog is extremely professional and focused. The author, Christian Bowers, posts several times daily, and although his posts are short, they cover home cooking, recipes, restaurant reviews, and local food news in real time, making this site very useful.

3) LISA IS COOKING (www.lisaiscooking.blogspot.com) This extremely popular blog focuses on home cooking, with tons of photos and a new recipe nearly every day. Lisa describes herself as "addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking," and her love for her subject matter just lights up the page.

4) THAI COOKING WITH JAM (www.thaicookingwithjam.blogspot.com) Jam Sanichat of Thai Fresh has no qualms about sharing the recipes that have fueled the popularity of her restaurant. On this charming blog, she shares her cooking secrets, along with beautiful photos of ingredients, dishes, and events around town.

5) BOOTS IN THE OVEN (www.bootsintheoven.com) Married pair Rachel and Logan keep up an awesomely steady stream of foodie content on this site, covering home cooking, recipes, local restaurants, and travel with such passion that I think they must blog about meals while they're still seated at the table. Always inspiring.

6) THE COSMIC COWGIRL (www.thecosmiccowgirl.wordpress.com) The Cosmic Cowgirl just can't stop cooking, and in addition to lovely photos and an engaging personality, she has a knack for posting really interesting recipes that you just can't wait to try yourself, like tamale dressing and cranberry buttermilk cake.

7) COOKING INSIDE THE LINES (www.cookinginsidethelines.blogspot.com) In this extremely useful site, blogger Emily, who "loves to cook, but sadly has no ability to create a recipe on her own," strictly follows recipes from cookbooks and popular magazines such as Bon Appé­tit, Cooking Light, and Food & Wine, documenting and reviewing the results, "so you don't have to."

8) MAGGIE'S AUSTIN (www.maggiesaustin.com) Written by "the self-proclaimed concierge of Austin," Maggie's Austin covers the Austin restaurant and music scene, keeping readers up to date on all the new and happening destinations around town.

9) EATING IN A BOX (www.eatinginabox.com) Blogger Ironjack documents his continuing avocation of preparing bento boxes for his wife and her co-workers. Throughout this blog, his interest in preparing well-balanced meals provides charming, inspirational, and fun reading.

10) APPETITE (www.pennydelossantos.wordpress.com) Renowned photographer and local luminary Penny de los Santos shares her amazing world-class photographs from all over the globe, along with recipes. The photos alone are well worth the trip and redefine the word "stunning."