Blog I Analyzed

 I analyzed a food blog called Alexandra's Kitchen!

Alexandra Stafford aka Ali loves cooking and she loves teaching people how to cook. She started this blog in 2006 and in 2017, her cookbook called “Bread Toast Crumbs” was published, and everything she cooks, bakes, she records them on this blog. She loves cookbooks so much that she has over 500 and it still continues to grow. After college, She attended cooking school in Philadelphia. In the About section, there are 10 Quick Things About Me where she introduces a lot more information. Her last post as of today (November 10, 2021) is November 7, 2021. And a one before that was posted on October 9, so she is very frequent. 

The Voice of the blogger is very personal and conversational. For example, in one of the blogs about Baked Feta with Cherry Tomatoes, she first wrote why she made it like what was happening during the day and she uses sentences like “No? Maybe you’ve heard of it?” or Well, etc. The blog is written from a first-person perspective. 

Media used in the blog are texts, photos, and a YouTube video. The proportion of text to visuals is very nice. She writes just enough information about the day, then some key elements then show how to make it step by step with photos. 

Interactive?

Yes, visitors can leave comments and rate the recipe. From looking at the blog, online interaction happens mostly in the comment section and you can also press the heart button which adds to your favorite recipe section. For example, visitors asked where Ali got the materials and she wrote back “I got it from Amazon” or one visitor who made the recipe asked if adding cheese is okay and Ali replied, “It sounds delicious!” I think this blog offers a sense of community for people who love bread and who love cooking seasonally. 

Social or political message:

There is an ethical message. Ali says she believes in balance and moderation so she doesn’t follow any specific diet. However, she believes in eating humanely raised meats and is drawn to vegetarian cooking. She also says the ethical and environmental concerns surrounding feedlots have been widely voiced and goes into detail about it. 

Content:

The blog specializes in a lot of food from appetizers, bread recipes, desserts, drinks, salads, jams, to soup. In the section where she writes about Grass-Fed Beef, she introduces us to the switch from feeding cows grass and how grain-fed cows produce well-marbled meat (less healthy). Recipes and cooking instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I think I’d be able to make these dishes!

User-friendliness:

It was very easy to navigate the site and I love how she chose the overall theme of the blog to be the color of matcha latte. Her fonts are simple and only the blog title is a different design. I like the layout of her blog: Title, Youtube video, photo of the final result, description, step-by-step recipe with photos, and print-out PDF. It made it easier to read the blog. 

What I’ve learned: 

I learned that making the font and colors simple with photos and videos makes it easier for readers to see. Features I will try to emulate in my blog are the sort of media; text and photos used and linking social media to attract more people.