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Did you see this?

It’s an article in today’s LA Times Food Section. It’s about the ethics of food blogging, written by Elina Shatkin.

It’s timely and very interesting, I’d even say newsworthy.

I have given a lot of thought to the ethics of SippitySup. I don’t really do restaurant reviews. Which is the focus of this article. But I might someday. Still many of the points in this article are quite relevant to so many of us, and may be worth a little soul searching.

Every time I post a recipe I think about its accreditation. I am not sure I have ever run a recipe that was absolutely someone else’s (except my mother’s and brother’s). I often find recipes I love from a variety of sources. But I tweak them to suit my tastes and cooking skills. I then say it was adapted from a source. I will often say that a chef or cookbook inspired a recipe when I took a broad concept and made quite a few changes.

But after that there is some gray area.

Many times I make something that I once ate someplace. I had no recipe as I attempted to recreate it. Often it takes several attempts for me to get something I am happy with. But this food memory may come from years ago and I have no idea about its source. I certainly can't even say how close to the original it may be. I usually consider these recipes my own and give no credit.

How about a recipe that started out as someone else's but has morphed so many times over the years that it bears very little resemblance to the original? Is this a SippitySup recipe?

Then there are those recipes that are pretty much universal, but I have my own way of preparing it. Surely this is my own creation. Or is it?

Several food blogs have attempted to publish a “code of ethics”. The LA Times mentions Egullets code (which I have included here). But readily admits there seems to be very little interest from bloggers to adhere to such a standard.

Are bloggers just spouting their own opinions? Or do we have a responsibility to adhere to some journalistic standards. Is a food blog a public source of information or a private journal?

I mean, if these are just private opinions, why are we sending them out to the blogosphere to be read by any and all for now until forever?

SERIOUS FUN FOOD

Greg Henry

SippitySup

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Revision. This version of the eG Ethics code was adopted Tuesday 12 May 2009. This code will be revised, updated and clarified from time to time. The latest version of the code along with elaboration and discussion can always be found at eGullet.org/ethics.