Five Faves for Foodies

Have you ever known a person who while eating breakfast, thinks about what's for lunch. And,while eating lunch, thinks about the dinner menu. That's Me! It's kinda funny because, I would never consider myself a "foodie " but when you have to consciously force your mind to tune into other daily responsibilities, what do you think? I'm constantly thinking about food, a food addict, so to speak. And, believe it or not, I weigh a whopping 150 lbs., with a BMI of 21. But, that's another story altogether. When online, I constantly surf to find cool food websites. Here are a few of my foodie favorites.

I know the title is "Five Faves for Foodies" , but I've decided to make this a sort food website journal. Whenever I discover something new and worth sharing or if a listed site needs updating, I will make the appropriate revisions. ~ Jai Warren

Food 52

Food 52 is a unique online experience. NY Times food journalists, Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, have created a recipe based website whose content is an amalgamation of their readers (home cooks) contributions. Weekly recipe contests ($100 gift cards to Whole Foods Market) prompt people to send their favorite home recipes to Food 52 , where they're tested, tasted and judged to determine a winner and provide more additions to the site. Their philosophy is to get people cooking again.

"We think cooking is really important — especially now. Over the past decade, many studies and books have shown that children from families who eat together do better in school, that eating "whole" foods is healthier, that eating sustainably will save the environment. But no one has pointed out that the only way to achieve all this in a comprehensive, lasting way is for people to cook". ~ About Food 52

Don't pass up the Video section for step-by-step instruction on winning seasonal recipes by their subscribers. A must visit!

Worlds 50 Best Restaurants

If you enjoy really sophisticated food and cool websites, visit this page. Unbelievable! Every April, a new list is chosen from restaurants around the world. This is the 2014 version but you can browse past years and they also provide the restaurants ranked #'s 51-100. Make sure to checkout their blog posts for chef interviews and restaurant updates.

The 2014 awards were announced in April Who's #1?

Food & Wine

Another well known food publication, Food & Wine has an excellent website. Food & Wine has just heavily revamped their site and now pulls information from blogs and websites all over the Internet. Their tagline, "inspiration served daily", is evident when you browse through the site. Make sure to explore the archives and be prepared to discover some very interesting cuisines from around the world. Don't miss exploring the Recipes & Chefs page of this website. Great cooking resource!!!

Viet World KItchen

Andrea Nguyen is the author of two cookbooks "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen " and "Asian Dumplings " (just released) and teaches Asians and westerners alike about the food of her native country. Vietnamese food has recently been recognized as one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. Plenty of vegetables with a moderate amount of protein, lots of herbs and rice or noodles are served practically at every meal. She also gives detailed information about "fish sauce" which is the Vietnamese equivalent of salt. I'm addicted to the stuff.

Rasa Malaysia

Another great source for Asian recipes, but you'll be astonished at the beauty of the photography. Bee Linn Yow provides recipes from a Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philipines and even India. If you enjoy all things Asian, this is a wonderful blog worth visiting. Bee just recently overhauled the website, making it more user friendly. Checkout her sister website Nyonya Food (Mothers' cuisine or home cooking).

Michael Ruhlman Translating the Chefs Craft for Every Kitchen

Michael Ruhlman is one of my favorite food journalists. He has authored several books on the art, craft and science of cooking including: The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, The Elements of Cooking and his latest Ratio. He has collaborated on The French Laundry Cookbook with Chef Thomas Keller and A Return to Cooking with Chef Eric Ripert. He's also been a judge on Food Network's Iron Chef America and appeared in two episodes of the Travel Channel's No Reservations with friend Anthony Bourdain. Ruhlman is a very engaging and entertaining writer, and his website is a mixture of recipes, instructional videos and essays on topical issues in the food world. For all you Foodies out there... a must visit!!!

You can also follow him on twitter @ruhlman