An inevitable shift is taking place in the world of food writing. Once the domain of food journalists, cookbook authors and literary essayists like M.F.K. Fisher and Laurie Colwin, food writing is now flourishing in the blogesphere. But when I refer to food bloggers, I do not mean angry gourmets who use the Internet to vent, but the foodies who dedicate time and energy to cover the subject they love most.

There are thousands of food blogs; a new one pops up every second. The best ones feature skilled writing, enticing recipes and gorgeous photography. Watch out, glossy food magazines like Gourmet and Saveur: Blogs like chocolateandzucchini.com, latartinegourmande.com, mattbites.com and smittenkitchen.com are where gourmets are now turning for inspiration.

 So influential was blogger Julie Powell's blog the Julie/Julia project (based on her cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French cooking) that a movie based on her life as well as Child's (played by Meryl Streep) is slated for release this summer.

The success of the top food blogs can be narrowed down to one factor: personality. Gone are the days of the third-person food story. Today's food writing is all about the "me" - here I am eating tangerines, this is where I like to buy my tangerines, and take a look at the tangerine/buttermilk cake I made last night.

Sounds like a breath of fresh air? Not always. Despite the hype, most food blogs are self-indulgent twaddle. But the best make you fall in love with those tangerines in ways you never thought imaginable. Two of my favourite personality-driven food blogs are run by Americans: Seattle-based food writer Molly Wizenberg of orangette.blogspot.com and Paris-based author David Lebovitz of davidlebovitz. com. Veterans of Internet food writing (Wizenberg has been at it for five years and Lebovitz for a decade), both bloggers have just released food memoirs in - get this - print!

Wizenberg's book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from the Kitchen Table (Simon and Schuster 2009) is one of the most enjoyable food memoirs I have ever read.

Self-deprecating, intelligent, wise and witty, Wizenberg introduces us to family, friends and lovers through meals, celebrations, breakups, and breakfast rituals. Each chapter closes with a recipe such as her father's french toast, her solo-supper Parisian fave ratatouille, and her fiance's original arugula and bittersweet chocolate salad.

From her early childhood memories in Oklahoma to the birth of her blog, Wizenberg never bores with overt sentimentality or verges into sappy food territory.

Her personality is so endearing and the writing is so clever that you'll savour every page.

About cabbage she writes: "Cabbages may be homely, hard-headed things, but with a little braising, they're bewitching. Cut into wedges and cooked slowly in a Jacuzzi bath of cream, they wind up completely relaxed, their bitter pungency washed away and replaced with a rich, nutty sweetness. My stomach coos like a baby at the thought of it."

Good stuff.

Lebovitz is another opinionated foodie whose blog I'm always happy to follow. Already the author of four cookbooks, Lebovitz's latest The Sweet Life in Paris, Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious and Perplexing City (Broadway, 2009) is more book than cookbook, even if it includes 50 recipes.

Having worked as a pastry chef for 12 years at Chez Panisse, Lebovitz writes cookbooks focused on desserts, especially chocolate and ice cream.

Yet his latest is centred not on sweets but his so- called "sweet" life in Paris, a city he decided to call home after the sudden death of his partner back home in San Francisco.

The move was not as smooth as Lebovitz had imagined, and reading about his initiation into French life is endlessly amusing. Less familiar with the language than we are, Americans seem to have a love affair and romantic notion of the French I'm not convinced we Quebecers share. Yet it's amusing to hear all Lebovitz is willing to endure to fulfill his dream of making The City of Light his own.

While Wizenberg's book is tinged with both sadness and joy, Lebovitz's book makes for a lighter read, the tone being that of a chatty friend offering his take on everything from the French health-care system (which he endorses), to the "manifs"(demonstrations, which he has had his fill of) and the Parisian obsession with the "salon de bronzage," which really hit home the day he passed Nicolas Sarkozy "à l'orange" on the street!

 My only reservation about Lebovitz's book concerns the recipes. Unlike Wizenberg's, which reflect the proceeding chapter, his seem to have been chosen somewhat haphazardly. And it's a shame to see so many excellent recipes with no photographs to match, especially as Lebovitz is a skilled food photographer. Perhaps The Sweet Life in Paris might have been better served as a two-book set?

Anyway, with Lebovitz, the story never ends, thanks to the frequent entries on his blog. As for Wizenberg, blogging is on hold for the moment. Does that mean Hollywood has come knocking? Not yet. In true foodie style, she's busy opening a pizza restaurant with her husband.