ith a digital camera and a hefty appetite, Jim Ellison is ready for action. ? Seated in a booth at Ohio Deli & Restaurant, a comfort-food outlet on the South Side, he quietly takes eight pictures of his Dagwood sandwich ? a meat-filled behemoth squeezed between slices of sourdough ? before devouring it. ? He finishes the platter in less than 30 minutes (which, according to restaurant policy, merits a free T-shirt and a Polaroid portrait on the wall).

The quirky experience has become something of a routine for Ellison.

It will soon become fodder for CMH Gourmand ? his Web log, or blog ? through which the state employee chronicles his culinary adventures in Columbus and beyond.

"I really get passionate about food," said the 38-year-old, who has freelanced for Ohio magazine and Citysearch.com, among other outlets.

According to a 2006 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 8 percent of Internet users kept blogs set up like journals and updated regularly.

The number that were focused on food wasn?t determined.

Because they operate independently, many food bloggers maintain that they fill an editorial niche ignored by glossy magazines and haute-minded food critics.

And, more often than not, they do the work free.

"I think I appeal to the average person," said Becke Boyer, who started her blog, Columbus Foodie, in 2005 as a way to record her meals while following Weight Watchers.

"I?m not one of those people who put my finger on trends. I just like to eat."

After her former employer downsized (and her diet went south), Boyer turned to blogging full time.

Her site, which gets about 1,000 visitors a week, has become a blend of musings on her kitchen creations, an expansive database of central Ohio menus and her reviews of off-the-radar places such as the Vietnamese restaurant Mi Mi Cafe and Thurn?s Specialty Meats.

Like most other food blogs, Columbus Foodie is also heavy on what politically incorrect gourmands jokingly call "food porn" ? detailed close-up shots of tasty eats that "stimulate your salivary glands and stomach," Boyer said.

So, naturally, toting a camera to dinner ? or one?s own dining-room table ? is a common practice (natural light without a flash works best, Boyer says).

Central Ohio food bloggers, many of whom also post reviews on larger, more general-interest Web sites such as Columbusunderground-.com, consider themselves an increasingly popular medium for advice, entertainment and, on occasion, influence.

Heather Popio began her food blog, Sopressata, in March. When she visited the newly opened Pistacia Vera bakery in German Village ? which relocated from the Short North in September ? she wasn?t happy to discover that the new place has no seating.

"Those lovely, delicate, decadent desserts are best enjoyed in that beautiful, tranquil, elegant space," she wrote. "They are not meant to be eaten in the back seat of a friend?s car, out of a cardboard box, with a plastic fork! "

Popio soon received a posted comment from Anne Fletcher, Pistachia Vera?s co-founder, stating: "Thanks for the feedback! We are listening." (Seating will be available in January.)

Lisa Dillman, 32, whose Restaurant Widow blog gets roughly 1,500 hits a day, has drawn readers from California to Singapore, some of whom have asked the server for dining tips before traveling to central Ohio. The Clintonville resident would like to add podcasts or video to the site.

Ellison has had restaurant servers and owners mention his blog by name, he said.

Boyer, meanwhile, doesn?t shy from personal topics such as dieting and the aftermath of an unsuccessful gastric-bypass operation.

And Popio sometimes addresses her failures on a particular home-cooked recipe and writes what she plans to do differently the next time.

Still, becoming a regular go-to outlet for the masses ? apart from Web-savvy circles ? is a challenge.

"I don?t think a lot of people give bloggers credit about the amount of work it (a blog) takes," said Rose Rings, 41, who writes Bitchin? in the Kitchen With Rosie.

The retail manager from Worthington, who blogs several times a month, finds the process therapeutic.

"My writing style and ability to express myself have increased," Rings said. "I?ve grown into the thought of doing it professionally."

On that note, she isn?t alone.

Hungry for fresh talent and unusual voices, a handful of food bloggers have caught the attention of major publishing houses.

Julie Powell, a New York temp who blogged about trying to cook the entire Julia Child tome Mastering the Art of French Cooking, is one of them. Her first book ? Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen ? was released by Little, Brown in September 2005. It sold 66,000 in hardback an another 65,000 in paperback, according to Nielsen Book-Scan.

"The blog is a superior medium for exploring one?s personal obsessions," Powell said recently in an e-mail to The Dispatch.

"The constant feedback and encouragement I got from readers informed my tone and subject matter, and gave me the confidence to keep writing when I was tempted to quit."

For most, blogging remains a satisfying hobby practiced between work and personal commitments.

Although Dillman, of Restaurant Widow, earns "almost nothing" by offering sales links to books on Amazon-.com and a digital "tip jar" to which readers can give a small donation through Pay-Pal, most bloggers make little or no money.

Having a personalized, instant digital connection with readers ? and restaurants ? is more important, the local bunch agreed.

"Blogging is very accessible," Dillman said. "If I cook something, you might say, ?Wow, I could make that, too.?

"I just never would have guessed that I would have thousands of people reading it."

kjoy@dispatch.com?