(Largo, Fla. ) -- A local food web site has won an international award for its spritely, eclectic take on culinary topics and for its far-reaching, worldwide directory of unusual food sites.

The website, http://www.FoodSiteoftheday.com received a Crystal Globe Award during the 2005 Annual Culinary Arts Awards from Cordon d’ Or-Gold Ribbon Culinary Accolade of the 21^st Century (http://www.cordondorcuisine.com/).

The presentation took place recently in St. Petersburg, Florida. Winners came from as far away as Australia and Korea. Seven authors received awards for their cookbooks and eleven received Culinary Arts Awards designed to recognize food people behind the front lines. Noreen Kinney is the life force behind Cordon d’ Or – Gold Ribbon, an author of many cookbooks and started the new Irish Cuisine movement back in 1960 and worked with it in Ireland until the early 1980s.

In the website category, Food Site of the Day’s mission statement is: "From hunters and gatherers to gourmet e-commerce, we are on a wonderful journey learning new foods and food combinations." Five sites are featured weekly then retired to the site’s archives, a directory more than 1,000 searchable links.

Many in the food trade find the site a handy reference. Featured food sites run the gambit of recipes, nostalgia, tips, commercial equipment, trends, tours, humor & games, history, festivals, articles, wine pairing, chefs’ pages and reference sources. The site also features food book reviews and articles by Martindale and guest columnists.

Martindale insists each site listed in the directory has an educational slant and not merely self-promotional. Many of the sites spotlighted display their "As seen on Food Site of the Day" awards on their own pages.

Pat Solley, owner of www.SoupSong.com and author of An Exaltation of Soups: The Soul-Satisfying Story of Soup, said of Food Site of the Day, "The web needed a savant to scan all the new valuable sites on food that emerge – and this is it. It’s a site that keeps on giving."

"You can sign up for weekly newsletters spotlighting new sites for their archives," wrote Tom Gearhart, a Toledo Blade features editor in an early story about Martindale’s site. "Sites range from Chinese breakfasts from street venders, London restaurant listings, how to toast your own coffee and all-about rhubarb."

Some culinary instructors pass out copies of Food Site of the Day’s newsletters. Others refer to the site as a "treasure trove."

"The site furthers its worldly concept by purposely featuring many sites outside the U.S.," Martindale says.

After reading an article on the site about Tibet and its food, Kevin Liang wrote from Sichuan province, China, that he is a yak milk producer near Tibet looking for a USA importer.

Assuntina Antacci wrote from Monti della Tolfa in northern Italy to tell Martindale’s readers about her many olive oil trees, chestnuts and fruit orchards.

Martindale pledges to try to live up to the honor by continuing to ride the crest of the newly-awakened interest in global food topics.

Marty Martindale

Owner

Food Site of the Day, Largo FL

mm@FoodSiteoftheDay.com

727.596.8509

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