Best Served Hot: July 26–August 1, 2026
Hello!
Substack has added the ability to check if a post is likely to have been written by AI. The tool, Pangram, is not perfect, and some fear this will lead to witch-hunts. Others are hopeful that this will protect the platform from being overrun with “slop”.
Eater writes about a low-key anti-AI visual trend on Instagram, such as handwritten announcements on pieces of paper rather than perfect (too-perfect?) photos. Have you ever shown your handwriting or recipe-making notes in your posts?
Casey Markee says your food blog SEO strategy in 2026 must include making your content easier for LLMs to understand. He predicts that the bloggers who win in 2026 will be the ones who make their content easier to understand, trust, and remember, rather than it being about publishing volume, AI tools, or trending SEO buzzwords.
Food Blogger Pro interviews Sam Vander Wielen, who shares how story, personality, voice, authenticity, and lived experience matter more than ever when AI easily provides information.
This week, the charts are full of chicken, zucchini, peach, and corn recipes, with coconut and pineapple joining the top ingredients chart for the first time. Dinner, Summer, and Gluten Free are the most popular types of recipes being posted.
@kasey_allthingsmamma grew her smaller Instagram account by 14% in the past week; have a look at her content to see why.
Week after week, I’ve watched Pinterest follower counts decrease for all the top food blog accounts. Pinterest follower counts no longer seem a meaningful measure to focus on or follow, so I’ll be dropping that chart. Do you have a chart you’d like added? Let me know!
If we haven’t yet met, I’m Rachel Cunliffe, food blog designer + statistician at cre8d design. Every Sunday, Best Served Hot provides exclusive charts and industry news you need to know.
If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack with your food blogging friends.
Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ followers, DA 40+, and have posted in the past six months. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 517 sites.
