Yesterday I posted a look back at December on the blog. Here now is some navel-gazing on a larger scale: a look at traffic trends on the blog across 2024 as a whole. This is likely of interest to no one other than myself but here it is anyway. You’re welcome.

In 2023 I’d reported that 2022 had seen the highest traffic numbers in the history of the blog, up by 10% over the previous year. In 2024 I’d reported that page views in 2023 had risen by a further 33% over 2022 (with unique visitors having risen by 29%). Well, this trend accelerated even further in 2024. Page views for 2024 were up by 43% over 2023 and unique visitors rose even more sharply by 70%! For context both those raw totals were more than twice those reported for 2022. Unfortunately, WordPress.com’s stats don’t display much granularity in terms of where on the web traffic originates but my sense is most of this dramatic increase is down to people arriving on the blog via search engines. I guess I have now posted enough “content” over the years that my back pages are pulling in people. All of this has coincided, after all, with my cutting back on new posts. 2024 also saw the fewest posts made in a year in the history of the blog. As I’ve quipped before, people obviously enjoy the blog more when I don’t post.

What I can tell you is where in the world people came from, even if I can’t tell which posts were more popular in which parts of the world. The US was once again the home to the lion’s share of the traffic but India is now in a much more solid second place. In 2023 US traffic was 8x Indian traffic; in 2024 US traffic was only 3.6x Indian traffic. This development makes me very happy. Rounding out the top 10 national sources were, in order, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Ireland and Hong Kong. But almost the entire world is reflected in the traffic map for the year.

I am pleased to report that the people of Turkmenistan have ended their boycott and the two page views from that stout nation allow me to claim all of Asia for my flag. All of mainland Europe has also demonstrated their good taste last year. Less happily, a handful of African nations continue to resist me. Over in the far west, Paraguay saw the light in 2024 but Nicaragua put paid to my dreams of domination of the Americas. And in the north Atlantic, Greenland defies me. Well, perhaps Herr Trump will put an end to that.

What were people reading once they got here? It will surprise no regular reader of the blog to learn that food posts dominated the charts. There were only four non-food related posts in the top 30 most viewed posts of 2024. Unusually, these included two whisky reviews (of the new Offerman Edition Lagavulin and the Indri, Trini at #9 and #22 overall) and a further whisky post (The Real and Fictional History of Loch Lomond Whisky at #30 overall). The fourth non-food-centered post was my piece on Arun Kolatkar’s poem, “Irani Restaurant Bombay”, which once again shot up the charts towards the end of the year. But beyond that it was all food in the top 30.

Top 30 Food Posts

1. Bukhara (Delhi, March 2022)
2. Eating at Mercato Centrale (Florence, June 2023)
3. In and Around Mangwon Market (Seoul, March 2024)
4. Trattoria Monti (Rome, June 2023)
5. At Namdaemun Market, Pt 2: Eating (Seoul, March 2023)
6. Ha Tien Supermarket (St. Paul)
7. Masoor/Mushoor Dal Variations
8. Christmas Lima Beans with Coriander and Roasted Cumin
9. Kwality (Delhi, January 2023)
10. Lunch at the Kalguksu Alley in Namdaemun Market (Seoul, March 2023)
11. Eating at Noryangjin Fish Market (Seoul, February/March 2024)
12. A Guide to Ordering at Grand Szechuan (Bloomington, MN)
13. Mandalay Kitchen (St. Paul, MN)
14. White Bean Stew with Coconut Milk
15. Santo Palato (Rome, June 2023)
16. Brown Rice Khichdi with Three Dals
17. Mutton Curry with Yogurt
18. Oro (Minneapolis)
19. Kung Fu Hot Pot (Minneapolis)
20. Mingles (Seoul, February 2024)
21. Regional Indian Cookbooks, An Incomplete Guide
22. Las Cuatro Milpas (Bloomington, MN)
23. Gurda-Kapoora Masala
24. Desi Vibes (Delhi, Spring 2017)
25. At the Sassoon Dock Fish Market (Bombay, January-February 2024)
26. Kim’s (Minneapolis)
27. Myriel (St. Paul, MN)
28. An Incomplete Guide to Regional Indian Cookbooks, Part 2
29. Eating at Tongin Market (Seoul, February 2024)
30. Margao Fish Market (Goa, January 2023)

These break down as follows: 8 restaurant and market reports from the Twin Cities metro; 6 restaurant and market reports from Seoul; 5 restaurant and market reports from India; 3 restaurant reports from Italy; 6 recipes; and 2 cookbook lists. Interestingly, none of my California or New York/New Jersey reports rose into the top 30 (though my review of Semma was just outside at #34). My look at Ha Tien in St. Paul continues to be my top-read local post this year (it was #4 overall in 2023). By the way, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I was interviewed over the summer for an interesting piece on Asian supermarkets in the Twin Cities that ran in the Star Tribune. Predictably, very few of my fascinating insights actually made it into the piece but I did enjoy talking to the reporter.

There were no new recipes posted to the blog in 2024 but I’m tickled to see the recipe for goat testicles still in the top 30. My cooking endeavours are now being documented strictly on Instagram and if you haven’t followed me there I am deeply ashamed of you. If you don’t know how many loaves of bread I’m baking every week and what toppings I’m putting on pizzas, well, you only have yourself to blame.

Those of you, the few, the not-very proud, who continue to come here for whisky reviews must be wondering which of those were more popular in 2024. Here’s the top 10 list of booze posts.

Top 10 Whisky/Booze Posts

1. Lagavulin 11, Offerman Edition, Rum Finish (#9 overall)
2. Indri, Trini—The Three Wood (#22 overall)
3. The Real and Fictional History of Loch Lomond Whisky (#30 overall)
4. Glendronach Confusion (or What is a “Single Cask?”) (#68 overall)
5. Kamet Single Malt Whisky (#81 overall)
6. Roseisle 12, Special Release 2023 (#100 overall)
7. Lagavulin 11, Offerman Edition, Charred Oak (#103 overall)
8. Lagavulin 12, Special Release 2023 (#104 overall)
9. Teeling Single Grain (#106 overall)
10. Talisker 11, Special Release 2022 (#111 overall)

You’ll note that not one of my mezcal reviews is on the list. Few people are coming here for booze content anymore and even fewer of them are interested in mezcal, which is what I am more and more interested in these days. So it goes.

Alright, that’s enough navel-gazing. I’m interested to see how/if these patterns will shift in 2025. Will the interest in my Italy reviews from 2023, which peaked in 2024, be sustained? Will people continue to be interested in the Seoul and Italy reviews (views of the latter of which had begun to taper off at the end of the year)? Will anyone have anything to say about my mezcal experiences? Will I ever write again about Golden Age Bombay cinema? Will I ever post another round-up of food writing on Indian food? We’ll see.

In closing, as always, I would like to thank those of you who do read the blog on anything resembling a regular basis. And I will continue to invite you to write in to the comments on the posts that interest you. Happy New Year!