Publisher: Crazy Food Dude

What Is CrazyFoodDude.com? Here's a little Q & A to help us figure out what this blog is all about. Q: What is this blog about? A: Ever been standing in the store staring at a product and wondered if it was any good? Well, this blog is here to answer those questions. The goal is to give you a review of a product so that you don't waste your hard earned money on something unappealing. There may be an occasional dissertation on something random, but I'm going to try my best to keep this blog at least 90% food related. Q: Crazy Food Dude...what is that name about? A: Well, that's a two part answer. The first part is that some of the foods that will be reviewed will not exactly be your run-of-the-mill types of things that you would buy in the store. I have a unique, if not "crazy," diet and therefore I buy/eat a lot of things that most people would not consider buying. The second part is that I am told by my friends that I have an interesting (read: crazy) perspective on a lot of things, so the title fits. Also, you are reading a blog done by a guy that is writing a Q & A starring himself. Does that not seem crazy to you? Q: You mention that you'll be reviewing "crazy" and non-traditional food items. What kinds of things will this entail? A: Great question (again, somewhat loco response)! The types of things I'll be reviewing will "healthy" foods like granola bars, energy bars, protein bars, calorie-free/low-calorie foods, ice cream, ethnic foods, etc. While I will try to focus on healthy foods, there may be an occasional dip into ice cream or some sort of fatty frozen foods. I like to drink beer and I do need the occasional comfort food treat from time to time. I am human after all, so sue me. These foods that I will be reviewing will all be pre-packaged foods with all the chemicals and nasty stuff that entails. Basically, it's the stuff that Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan don't want you to eat because it is not made up of one ingredient. All of these foods will also be available at mass merchandising retailers/grocers (Kroger, Meijer, Walmart, Amazon.com, CVS, etc.). I'm also going to try and stick primarily to brand name items since those are available everywhere. There may be an occasional store brand, but I will try to keep the number of those limited. Q: What is the deal with that logo and those horrible graphics? A: He's crazy...get it? I made them myself using Microsoft Paint, so if you want to get yourself some sweet MS-Paint skills like me, contact me and we can make arrangements. This blog is more about the content anyway, so the graphics shouldn't matter. Well, that's at least what I'm telling myself... Q: What does your rating system of "Buy It or Fly By It" mean? A: The rating system is meant to give the illusion that you are in the retail store of your choice and come upon the particular product for sale in the aisle. Quite simply, if I feel the product tastes good and is worth your purchase, I'm going to give it a "Buy It" rating meaning that you should stop in the aisle and pick it up. If I feel the product tastes like garbage or is not of value, I am going to give it a "Fly By It" rating meaning that you should keep on walking and not give the product a second thought. Q: You said you have a unique diet, so what does that mean? A: Well, when I say unique, I mean that I try to control my caloric intake on a daily basis. I workout like a mad man and I generally try to stay healthy the majority of the time. During the week, I eat primarily fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, pudding and granola/protein bars. Basically, I'm a vegetarian during the week and only eat meat during the week about once a month. I eat the protein bars as my supplement for not eating meat during the week. Now, on the weekends, all bets are off and I eat basically anything I want (this is where the comfort food reviews will come from). Q: Is price an object? A: In most cases, yes. I'm a thrifty person, so I try to keep to a firm budget with my food purchases. Because of this, you aren't going to be seeing a whole lot of $6 energy bars on here. That said, there may be an occasion where curiosity kills the cat, so to speak, and I end up purchasing something out of my typical wheelhouse. In general, most products will be under $5. Q: Some of your pictures suck. Can you maybe try a little harder? A: I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a professional photographer and I think that clearly shows in the blog photos. My digital camera recently died on me, so at this point, all photos are being taken using my super awesome iPhone 5s. I eventually plan on upgrading my camera (maybe), although I don't think the problem is necessary the equipment in this case. Even with the best tools, some people just aren't good photographers and I may be one of them. Q: There's advertising on this site. Don't you consider that selling out? A: Well, yes and no. The yes part of me says that I would be like the public library and put all this information out for public consumption and not charge a front end tax like a video store. The reality is that I've got bills to pay and food to buy, so advertising revenue will toward providing you with this wonderful site. That said, if I am contacted by a business wishing to advertise a new product or place a sponsored post on the blog, I certainly welcome those, but I will make note that it is a sponsored and/or paid review. Q: How do you contact the blog? A: This place is fancy and we've even got our own blog specific e-mail address. For those of you that care, the address is indianapoliseater@crazyfooddude.com. If you send something there, I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Q: Who is IndianapolisEater? A: A crazy person, DUH! Actually, I've been writing in the food blogosphere at WouldIBuyItAgain.com starting in 2009 (since closed), so I'm not new to the medium. The difference between my writing here and my writing there is that I focus on restaurant reviews/news on that site. Here, the focus will be on product reviews. My aim to focus on healthy-ish foods here is something that I take great pride in. I was once a rather larger gentleman that weighed well over 350 pounds. Over the course of the past half decade, I've lost so much weight that I am literally less than half that weight now. I did it through exercising like a crazy fool and eating (mostly) right. That's the short version of the story. Q: This Q &A has been kind of long...will you be adding to in the future? A: Fortunately (or unfortunately), yes. I'm sure there will be questions that come up as time goes on and I'll address those in this forum.