FAQ

Are you professional cooks?

Nope!

Would you like a job?

Yes, please!

Where did you learn about food?

I believe the best way to learn is to simply do. Our friend Yoda said something like that once. I began cooking at a young age and eventually made my way into a restaurant at age 14. From there, it became an obsession. But I’ve never been to cooking school. I don’t own whites or a respectable knife set that’s not borrowed from my parents. I don’t know how to make a souffle. But there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than cooking. I think that’s reason enough to do what we do.

Why did you start this site?

I used to write a weekly vegan food column for our university’s newspaper, which grew into a smaller-scale food blog that I kept for a year. A Food Coma developed from a silly dream of something bigger; we envisioned a multimedia website to indulge in our mutual love of cooking and eating. We saw what our fellow students were eating and decided that we had a niche!

Our vision was Smitten Kitchen meets Eat Drink or Die – a funny, nerdy, witty place with easy recipes and our commentary on things from shitty waitress jobs to the state of food in America.

Are you vegetarians?

For a while, this site featured only vegetarian recipes, but in an effort to include everyone, we’ve expanded our scope – much like our own diets have recently changed. So the short answer is no, we are not vegetarians, but we love and embrace both vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. However, I was a vegetarian for many many years, so I understand the commitment that it takes to stick to a maintaining different diet.

Moving away from that was a personal decision and I will not try to sway people in one way or the other. Eating is such a personal thing – I just want everyone to enjoy and appreciate good food, while making smart and informed decisions about where it comes from.

So vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, fruitarian, organic lover, gluten-free, cake-i-tarian – you’re all welcome here.

I work for a PR firm and would like to offer you a free product/book/gadget/service to sample and review. What is your policy about that?

If we find it appropriate, we will accept samples to review. We will not accept payment for this. We will NOT guarantee that you’ll get a good review – just an honest one. If samples are not required to be returned, all relevant items will be donated when we are finished. Complementary meals will be noted as such in the review or article.

That being said, we always like hearing from PR professionals! Get to know us and we’ll get to know you. We’re particularly interested in cookbooks and things geared to a younger (i.e. college student) audience. At the moment our regional concentration is in the Greater Philadelphia Area and all of New Jersey – if you have an upcoming event nearby, let us know!

I noticed an error in one of your stories. This makes me angry! Where can I complain?

We appreciate the concern and strive to be accurate as possible. If you see an error in fact, spelling, grammar or otherwise, please feel free to let us know. Understand we’re a small operation, and only human, so sometimes mistakes may slip through.

Let’s talk advertising.

Our advertising is currently handled by Foodbuzz.com, a community specifically for food bloggers. Though we’re currently not seeking other advertising at this time, please feel free to send queries to afoodcoma [at] gmail.com.

May I use your photos and recipes for my blog?

***Please see our legal information page.***

You may not copy any text, articles, or video content without permission. To publish any A Food Coma content on another website or publication without express permission of Alexandra Harcharek is copyright infringement and we (i.e. Alexandra’s lawyer) will deal with it as such.

However, we understand that in the world of food blogging, recipes are passed around and take on a life of their own. If you use or try our recipes (which we encourage, obviously) we ask that you e-mail and ask permission before reprinting on your own blog.

Many of our recipes are adapted and inspired by other sources and are always properly attributed with a link and a few lines of credit. If you use one of our recipes, we would appreciate the same courtesy. Thanks!

Who designed your site? Where did you get your inspiration?

Brandon B. Werner worked very hard to design and build the Web site. The beautiful design and colors are inspired by my super cute Bianchi Milano bicycle.

I love the little cartoons at the beginning of your podcast! Where are those from?

Again, that was Brandon. If you’d like to see more of his design work, please visit gunsandrobots.com.

I’m interested in food writing, but don’t have much experience. Can I write an article for you?

Sure thing! A Food Coma is put together by enthusiasm, hard work and a whole bunch of coffee-fueled evenings. But it takes a lot more than just two hungry editors. So we welcome new voices, from all ranges of experience. If you’d like to write an article, we’d like to read it.

However, we cannot afford to pay you at the moment due to the high hosting expenses and our super tight budget. Our dream is to someday be able to have a full-time paid staff, but until then we hope you enjoy just being a part of the gang!

Contributors can submit anything from recipes to feature-length articles to product reviews. We’ve even developed our own style guide to help you out. We’d love to have you with us!

Written by Alexandra. Updated March 2010.