Hungry Magazine

By Erin in Food on Mar 8, 2006 7:33PM

With such a proliferation of food- and cooking-focused blogs and web sites out there, some days it's all Chicagoist can do to get to a handful of them to keep up. However, as is the case with the industry itself, the more the merrier. So in the same way we're always stoked to find a new approach to duck breast, we're equally as happy to find a blog with a different twist.

We've been reading Hungry Magazine for a few months now and we're hooked for several reasons. The first is their charming Olive Garden Manifesto, which was all we needed to know we would love their approach. Food is about celebrating, sharing and joy, and one can do all three with biscuits and gravy in your girlfriend's kitchen or over Shumai Flighto at Japonais - one is no better than the other.

Here are some more reasons we love Hungry:

• It's delightfully approachable. Food snobs are the new black. Like indie music kids before them, those with a little food and cooking know-how take such umbrage with the idea that anyone and everyone should enjoy good food. Pishaw we say, and so do the folks at Hungry. With features such as the "Faster Than Rachael Ray" product reviews, Hungry introduces the curious to cooking and food topics without coming off as though they'd just as soon rake a zester over our cheeks than explain why it's important to hold a knife correctly.
• It's so darned pretty. Chicagoist is big into the pretty, especially when it comes to our food blogs. We can't stand a food blog that doesn't have actual pictures of food on them. Hungry has them in spades. Plus, they've got slideshows offering behind-the-scene peeks into three area kitchens - Custom House, Vie and Moto.
• Podcasts. Hands down, this is our favorite part of Hungry. There is nothing - nothing - more entertaining for those of us who love food than to hear directly from some of the chefs who are at the helm of our favorite restaurants. Because Hungry is based in Chicago, their roster of chefs contain local stars - including Chicagoist favorites Ryan Poli of Butter and Shawn McClain of Green Zebra, Spring and Custom house.

While we wish the site was a little less ad-happy, we here at Chicagoist know that you have to pay the bills somehow and those dinners at Alinea don't pay for themselves.