The blogging evolution has created an excellent online resource for foodies as they live out and learn more about their great passion – food. Foodies are uniting through blogs to share their passion for food, using them as portals to review and comment on current trends and venues.

As social media continues to sweep the nation, new food blogs pepper the blogosphere every day. According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, 12 million adults maintain blogs of all types and 57 million adults log on to read what bloggers have to say.

Although most food bloggers are not professional chefs or writers, a bounty of fascinating and award-winning material is posted by bloggers every day. Some blogs have readerships that newspapers and magazines only dream about.

Today’s reporters and editors scan food blogs for their next dinner recipe, as well as their next story idea. Public relations firms are asking bloggers to try their clients’ food products and write reviews. Even established cookbook authors and related professionals have plunged in to the blogosphere looking for a new interactive audience.

As bloggers catering to all different types of information experience hunger pains, the variety of food blogs continues to expand exponentially. No single online source is able to list the millions, but there are a few popular and useful directories.

The food blog lists food blog addresses. The Chef’s Blog Directory also lists blogs by category.

Blogs that feature posts on whatever the writer is passionate about are among the most popular. This could include musings on styles of cooking, kitchen tools, at-home ideas, budget dinners, restaurant or dish reviews, food and travel, shopping for food and sharing recipes. Almost a Chef is a good example of this “free spirited” type of blogging.

Another current trend is that many blogs can be sifted into very narrowly focused subjects, areas or topics. One example is Pork, Knife and Spoon, a pork-specific blog written by Shauna James Ahern, a pork enthusiast. Ahern is also the author of the popular blog Gluten-Free Girl, which recently was named by the London Times as one of the “50 best” food blogs in the world.

Some blogs are designed with the goal of creating a community and drawing together like-minded individuals. Writers in this category use the Internet to connect and communicate with each other. Some blogs focus on interactive elements.

For example, Is My Blog Burning? encourages users to create a profile, post and vote on food links and even add their own blog to the “big fat food search engine.” In addition to their online interactions, users also hold themed cooking events, which are hosted by a different blogger each time.

It’s clear the trend of foodies using social media to expand their knowledge about food shows no sign of ebbing. After all, foodie readers are not only hungry for information, they want to post recipes, learn new culinary tips and share about their own exquisite creations, while gaining feedback from other like-minded individuals.

What's your favorite food or foodie blog?