Developing a taste for digital delights

Dublin-based food and wine writer Ernie Whalley set up www.forkncork.com as early as 2002 to collate his archive of published content; Donal Skehan started blogging in 2007, and was one of the first Irish food bloggers to publish a cookbook just two years later.

When Caroline Hennessy set up the Irish Food Bloggers Association with Kristin Jensen in 2010, they had 30 members; now there are almost 400 on the blogroll

FOOD writing used to know its place: books, magazine, and newspapers. It was linear. Food writers wrote, sent the copy to their editors, and — hey presto — words made it into inky print that you actually had to go to a shop and buy. No longer. With the advent of digital media, food writing has moved into a different era. Now, there are blogs, online magazines, videos, apps and websites. There are more recipes available through your computer, tablet, or phone than you could cook in one lifetime, And all of it free.