No Tastespotting! I'm sad, cold, alone...and hungry!!!

Just when I thought I had finally gotten through a Friday the 13th unscathed, I was slammed in the face with a Post-it note.

Where, oh where has my tastespotting.com gone?!

To quote one of my favorite shows, "Sex and the City"..."He broke up with you in a Post-It note?!"

As you can see from the note left on the cyber-refrigerator that used to be Tastespotting.com, the web site beloved by foodies all over the world is no more. It's heart-breaking. I feel like I have just lost my best friend. I have been punched in my empty, grumbling stomach.

For those of you not fortunate enough to have "relished" (sorry, had to do it) this web site before, Tastespotting was kind of like an on-line recipe box of sorts. Bloggers worldwide posted their best recipes, advice on food and wine, and other food related articles. Pages and pages (somewhere around 350 pages on 6-12-08) of yummy thumbnail pictures were linked to blogs containing each recipe or article, and even better, from there, hundreds, if not thousands of other recipes. The trail of food related blogs was endless. Pure heaven for anyone who enjoys cooking(or eating!). It was a gateway to thousands of educational sources that could have rivaled any culinary academy.

I had found this web site about a year ago and have enjoyed and been inspired by many of the recipes and articles that were posted. I have a link in the left column on this blog to Tastespotting in order to share what was a wonderful source of culinary inspiration. I had even been hoping to one day post some of my own recipes.

So far, I have not found the true reason for the end of Tastespotting.com. And I refuse to believe it is really gone forever. Whatever the legal complications are, I'm hoping it can be sorted out and Tastespotting will one day return. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that there may have been some kind of copyright issue involved. Although most of the recipes and articles were original and posted by the authors themselves, I do remember seeing a few blog posts that spoke about and contained pictures from published works. This may be the sticking point. If so, it may be possible to just remove those posts and keep a tighter control on future posts to make sure they are in compliance with current copyright laws.

Whatever the issue, I do hope to see Tastespotting.com return soon! I will leave the link on my blog just in case. *fingers crossed*

I am not alone in my misery. Foodies everywhere are left confused and yearning. For further thoughts on the disappearance of Tastespotting.com, check out the comments on Chowhound.com . If anyone can shed some light on this, feel free to leave a comment here as well.