A Niche in the Jewish Blogosphere

In a Passover preview post in April, The Jew & The Carrot used the term "Jewish food blogosphere." Just when you thought that the Jewish blogosphere was a specific niche, it turns out that there is a niche within the Jewish blogosphere, and heebnvegan is a part of it! (heebnvegan doesn't focus exclusively on food issues, but vegetarianism, veganism, and animal agriculture do make up the lion's share of posts about animal protection issues.) The Jew & The Carrot's post linked to six blogs (including heebnvegan) that were talking about Passover foods.

Just how big is the Jewish food blogosphere? The somewhat comprehensive "Jewish Food Blogs" blogroll on The Jew & The Carrot's site lists 26 blogs, including heebnvegan and not including The Jew & The Carrot. However, one blog is listed twice (with diferent spellings), at least one of the links won't open, and some listings are for great Web sites that don't have blogs. In other words, the Jewish food blogosphere isn't a major movement (as of press time). But it is cozy, and it includes some all-stars.

How big is the vegetarian Jewish food blogosphere? Besides heebnvegan, the only vegetarian J-blogs that come to mind are Jewish Vegan, In Mol Araan (which is largely in Yiddish), and Begano (which is in Spanish). I wouldn't count ShalomVeg.com (a Web site that occasionally features blog posts), Kosher and Humane (which is defunct), Counting the Omer (which is inactive), Two Heads of Lettuce (which hasn't posted since November), Kosher Vegan Lasagna (which regularly features nonvegetarian dishes), or the Jewish Vegetarians of North America newsletter (which gets published on a Blogspot site).

In my last post, I wrote that heebnvegan "serves as a vegan voice in the Jewish blogosphere." Without myriad vegetarian Jewish food blogs, heebnvegan is proud to serve that role. In many cases, the discussion about Judaism and vegetarianism extends beyond the "Jewish food blogosphere" into other Jewish blogs as well. And I'm proud to be part of that discussion.

It may seem silly to specify, categorize, and pigeonhole. But sometimes in life, it's good to know where you stand. It's not the first time I've been interested in a "subsubsubsubgenre."