Here is something I did not expect to ever say aloud to my computer: “That omelet would have come out better if you had turned down the heat and flipped it sooner.” The number of times I have said that aloud to my computer? Three, so far.

When we call obsessions unhealthy, we usually mean to say that they are a waste of time, that they are indulgent and purely unproductive. Staring at pictures of food whilst in a semi-zombified state is obviously not going to cure cancer, and (perhaps more tragically) has lost me quite a bit of beauty sleep. However, I can totally rock that haven’t-slept-in-days look and will certainly not be curing cancer any time soon.

Besides, I come away from food-porn binges not only hungry, but also having learned something: we have the omelet tip above, and in theory, I know how to cook a steak medium-rare (I just have not tried to do so yet) and that the perfect cheesecake apparently requires a water bath (fancy French name included: bain-marie). Because food porn sensibilities value the look of the food—after all, that’s all we have to go on when browsing the Internet—there are food styling tricks up both my sleeves, as well as knowledge of good and bad camera angle decisions. I know who uses what kind of camera in the food-blogging community because everyone shares that in the “About Me” sections of their websites. I also know who in the food-blogging community has a cookbook coming out, and who is getting married or expecting a child, because blogging about food inevitably becomes blogging about life.

Food bloggers are obsessed with food, and they indulge that obsession not only by looking at food online, but also by preparing food and sharing their experiences on their websites. Food is a necessary part of everyday life, and somewhat more than that for the people who blog about it. The online epicurean community has married making, eating, photographing, and writing about food (sometimes matter-of-factly, sometimes with humor, sometimes with poetry)—and it has brought people together in the process. When longtime blogger Jennifer Perillo’s husband unexpectedly died last year, she took to her website and asked that her readers honor her struggle and their own loved ones by making their own versions of her husband’s favorite peanut butter pie. Many did just that: people who had never met Jennie, who live on the other side of the country or the world from her, even the strange ones who do not like peanut butter, answered her request and offered her the kind of support only a stranger who shared her obsession could give. I think there is a beautiful lesson in that.

Jennie is coming out with a cookbook now, and that is a great example of the way the Internet rewards our use of it to indulge our obsessions. Becoming a foodie celebrity is no longer a matter of intensive and expensive culinary training and working from the bottom of the restaurant world up. Thanks to the web, we are in the age of the home cook, and the passion of more and more home cooks today is met with true career success. From hosting advertisers and sponsored giveaways on their websites to selling books, cooking classes, and even getting TV show deals (“The Pioneer Woman” on the Food Network started out online and still regularly blogs), it has become lucrative to share your love of food. Traditional methods of rising up in the food industry can be costly, lonely, and especially difficult for women who have not traditionally belonged in commercial kitchens. But honoring food-related obsessions online is opening up a lot of doors, made possible in part by viewers like me. You’re welcome.