What Might Have Been

Determining the perfect title for this blog was a long and arduous challenge. The reasons for this were many, and paramount amongst them was the fact that I wanted a title that was catchy, memorable, and significant, one that truly defined me as a foodie. Coming up with ideas was easy; I consider myself quite clever, with a sharp sense of humor and an ear for plays on words. No sooner did I commit myself to naming my blog than the ideas began to spill forth from my brain, each one more perfect than the one that preceded it.

However, the first real hurdle presented itself as I tried to register my title with Blogger, the hosting site. It quickly became apparent that the food blogosphere is populated mainly by casual participants who register their titles, post a token entry, and then, bored with this diversion, move onto a new one: Scrapbooking, model railroads, geocaching. The overwhelming majority of my ideas had been registered and abandoned, rendering them unavailable for my use.

The other major hurdle actually stemmed from a positive. Upon publicizing the fact that I was actively seeking titles for my blog, I was inundated with suggestions from friends and associates. There were so many incredible titles, most of which perfectly fit the tone I wanted for my blog. It quickly became obvious that I would have trouble selecting the single best one. Before long, however, it became obvious that I wouldn't have to, as virtually all of these suggestions were already registered. Nonetheless, I am humbled by the brilliance of all who contributed to my quest.

That said, I thought I would list some of the proposed titles for this blog.

The following blogs are either inactive, or active but very rarely updated; however all are unavailable as of this writing:

Alimentary My Dear Watson
Alphabet Soup (most recent activity 5/15/01)
Bring Home the Bacon (6/15/04)
Chew the Fat
Culinary Delights (12/31/06)
Cut the Cheese (12/17/04)
Cut the Mustard (12/29/04)
Delicious Musings (10/6/08)
Foodtastic (8/1/05)
Food Geek (5/21/03)
Food Glorious Food (12/31/03)
Food Nation (12/31/05)
Get in My Belly (5/15/07)
Hyperphagia
I Live to Eat (3/12/05)
I Love Food (3/10/03)
Living to Eat
Munch a Bunch (3/22/05)
Musings of a Foodie (2/15/07)
Omnivorous (9/27/01)
Salacious Crumb (7/22/04)
Salacious Crumbs
Salivation (4/5/06)
Well Done (12/2/01)
What I'm Eating (4/20/08)
Yummy in My Tummy
Yummy in the Tummy

I was particularly disappointed about the unavailability of "Salacious Crumbs", which would have perfectly melded my love of food ("crumbs") with my enthusiasm for Star Wars ("Salacious B. Crumb" is the name of a minor character in the series' third installment, Return of the Jedi) while incorporating my first name. Thanks to MrManuel for coming up with it.

The following titles are currently active,the most recent activity occurring within the last two months:

All Things Edible
The Food Geek

Both look great. Check them out if you're so inclined.

The following titles are currently available - with one exception:

Edge of Knife
Foodjutsu
Foodopoly
Food Fu!
Fork-nication
Sal's Side Up
Things I Put Inside Me

I should point out that "Fork-nication", suggested by a friend, is the one title that is not currently available. Surprised that it was somehow not already taken, I immediately registered it to myself. I guess it's destined to become one of those inactive blogs described above.

I'm not sure when I decided to use a variation of the word masticate in my blog title, but when the idea crossed my mind it occurred to me that such a title would perfectly capture the essence of my blog: Low-brow but not overly sophomoric, and lighthearted to the point of funny. Here are a few proposed titles along this line:

Masticate (most recent activity 2/4/02)
Masticating in Nor Cal (available)
The Sophisticated Masticator (available)
The Unabashed Masticator (available)

I eventually found myself debating between two possibilities: Confessions of a Chronic Masticator, and Confessions of a Compulsive Masticator. There had apparently been a blog at chronicmasticator.blogspot.com at some point in the past; it has since been removed but the URL was unavailable for new blogs. This left me with Confessions of a Compulsive Masticator. The rest, as they say, is history.