Enter the food blog/website survey and win three Shun Damascus steel knives

G'day. If you're new here, and you are interested in the Melbourne food and drink scene you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or the email newsletter below. Thanks for visiting and enjoy eating and drinking in Melbourne. Cheers.

There’s been a lot of agro, some uninformed, on the blogger versus “qualified” journalist debate this year. It’s now time to put some facts behind some of the arguments to see just who read and thinks of what and how often they do it through a survey of food and drink blog and website readers.

Enter my survey here of Australian and New Zealand readers between now and the end of August. Please pass it on to your friends as the more people that enter the more valid the results will be. Note: the survey and prize is only open to Australian and New Zealand-based readers.

Also ensure you leave your email to enter the Kitchenware Direct draw for a 3 piece Shun knife each with an amazing Damascus steel blade. And if you have a blog enter your blog address as I’m compiling a definitive list of local food and drink blogs. Individual details will remain confidential and will not be related to the survey answers which are aggregated.

Back in June Leena (who at the time was studying Gastronomy in Adelaide) published the results of her survey of 1,800 people from the US on their food website reading habits:

“A majority of respondents felt food blogs had equally reliable information as print food journalism. They also tended to read food blogs more often than print food journalism. For example, 69% of respondents consulted print food journalism monthly while 37% consulted print food journalism websites weekly. But 79% of respondents consulted U.S. food blogs at least daily, if not multiple times a day, crediting their increased usage to a food blogger’s candid writing style, diverse voice and range of topics, as well as their approachable personalities.”

Leena urged me to launch my own survey, which is a tweaked version of hers to reflecting the local market (while trying to keep it short).

Thanks to my deal with the commercial devil (and I mean devil in a good way) Kitchenware Direct I’m able to offer the prize of a three piece classic set of Shun knives as spruiked by Neil Perry himself. In a normal shop this set - a 8.5cm paring knife, a 15cm utility knife and a 20cm chef’s knife - would set you back $449. Even at Kitchenware Direct they would cost $299.

As part of the deal Kitchenware Direct is also offering free shipping on anything bought during the next 30 days.

Simply enter the coupon code “tomatom” for free shipping.

Popularity: 20% [?]