Blogging For Love Not Money

I went to the opening night of 

 last week - a new brasserie in Wafi Pyramids in Dubai - and had a wonderful evening chatting to some of the UAE's most prolific food bloggers.

Over the course of my meal of grilled shrimp and tuna steak, I listened to the culinary exploits of

, was introduced to the legendary

and had a catch up with the delightful

.

I learnt there were more than 70 food bloggers now writing their gastronomic thoughts online in the UAE - a phenomenal number when you consider the size of the nation. But despite this, they all have a different approach to cuisine and, more importantly, the types of culinary delights they blog about. However, as a personal finance journalist, the big question for me is always - does blogging bring in the money?

"Oh, I wish this was full-time," said

, who also works for her family business. Aside from her writing and photography

is also a busy full-time mum to two young boys and

, whose site is littered with advertising, still dabbles in PR.

Whether these women are raking in the cash isn't something I wanted to pry out of them on a nice social evening, but there's no doubt blogging can be lucrative. According to

, the infamous celebrity blogger Perez Hilton earns US$3,500 (Dh12,856) a day from his gossip-generating website,

brings in $15,781 a day and

$30,000 a day.

But making big bucks is not something that happens overnight. A blogger needs huge numbers of hits a day for advertisers to catch on to the potential of their site and actually invest.

However, there's no doubt a blogger's opinion matters and every word carries enormous weight. Here in the UAE, the food bloggers are besieged with more invites to restaurant openings and culinary events than the average journalist. What they say holds huge culinary sway because they literally have a loyal band of followers hanging off their every word.

So whether it makes them rich or not, what I admire about all these women is that despite not necessarily committing to blogging as a full-time career, they are indulging their passion for food, writing and photography 100 per cent.

Not everything in life makes us rich in the pocket, but it can make us rich in spirit, and perhaps, in the stomach as well.