Introduction

And so I begin my life of blogging, something I have been resisting for quite some time now.

One reason for this has been that I see no great need to express private details of my life - I mean, what value does that provide to the world? My time could more usefully be spent working on Wikipedia. If I am to blog, I want to create some content or synthesis of information which is actually useful to people, otherwise I see little point.

But what to blog about? Over the last few years, I have developed a steadily stronger passion for cooking and baking, which I think is partly attributable to my mother. Friends have experienced two of my insane 9-course cooking missions, both of which (miraculously) went well. My approach to cooking often involves extensive research of the dish I want to prepare, of the culture, alternate ways of preparing it, how it should be served and eaten, and so on. As part of this research, I have often found personal cooking blogs to be extremely useful - accounts of how a recipe turned out, what worked and what didn't, and a few hints about pitfalls are often worth far more than any basic recipe. Well, I cook fairly often and I have a digital camera. I have something to blog about.

As the title suggests, however, this is more than just a cooking blog, for I am a shameless informavore. I am addicted to knowing things, and voluntarily blast my brain full of information on any topic which takes my fancy on a frequent and regular basis. As I perhaps implied last paragraph, this also applies to my cooking. So, I thought to myself, why not create a blog in which I document not only the process of cooking, but the background information that I acquire during the course of my research as well?

And so my first blog was born. I do hope that it provides you with entertainment or utility (inclusive or).