Tony,
Look around! The great food writers, insightful thoughts and tenacious food explorers are on LTHforum.com. And ironically, we do it for chuckles with hardly a penny or complimentary dinner in sight.
We have specialists on board like Gwiv and Bruce on BBQ, Erik M on Thai, Antonius on anything Italian, Ourpalwill on Southern food and culture, Pdaane on Wisconsin, JeffB on hispanic food ... and I am just a kick around generalist ... to name just a few.
We are often an unattributed resource to some of the papers. If I were in their shoes, I would be looking at us as well for information and ideas.
You can complain and moan all you want, at least you have found your tribe at LTHforum.com.
Regards,