Cooking
The Web is loaded with news and recipes for the epicure. Just remember not to surf again until 30 minutes after you've eaten.

Betty Crocker: Don't know what to make for dinner? Ask Betty. Type in a few ingredients you already have on hand, and up pops a selection of recipes. This site's a little more commercial than we might like (the recipes manage to call for Betty Crocker packaged mixes quite a few times) but still manages to be fun and useful at the same time.

The Kitchen Link: This may be the fastest way to surf for cooking and food-related areas. A gateway to thousands of food-related Web pages, it links to sites where you can search for out-of-print cookbooks, browse through cooking magazines and newspaper columns or surf through thousands of recipes.

Wine Spectator magazine: Novice or expert, it doesn't matter – this is one of the best wine sites around. Our favorite feature is the library of more than 55,000 wine reviews, all searchable by price, location, year, type of grape and more.

Star Chefs: Celebrity chef devotees need look no further. Among the recipes and tips, this site features a list of events throughout the country featuring big-name chefs and includes listings of cooking vacations around the world.

– Stephanie Witt Sedgwick

Nutrition
It's easy to count your calories in cyberspace. Here are a few sites that'll show you how.

CyberDiet: Finally, an answer to the big question: How much ice cream can I eat? This is a good starting point for folks aiming to go on a diet or just get in better shape. There's a daily food planner, a chat area and the chance to sign up for "Team" Cyberdiet for some group motivation.

Nutrition Analysis Tool v1.1: Wondering how nutritious that coffee and bagel you ate for breakfast was? Head to this site to get a scientific breakdown of, among other things, the fat, calcium, potassium and iron content in the foods you eat. It'll also give you suggestions on what foods to eat to balance things out and offers a "personal diet list" to keep track of everything you inhale.

The Recipe Directory: Looking for some variety in your diet? Or planning to ditch meat? This site is filled with 2,000 vegan (no meat or dairy products) recipes. There's a recipe exchange, a weekly meal planner and even a suggested grocery list.

– Mary M. Remuzzi

Beer
Beer, in all its varieties, has seen a huge rise in popularity over the last several years; the same goes for Web sites on beer.

Ale Street News: Ale Street News, the online version of the trade journal, is a font of information about craft brews and home-brewing, with a semi-regularly updated news section, features that spotlight brewers large and small, and festival and pub reviews.

Pubcrawler: The heart of this site is a searchable database of more than 2,800 beer bars, microbreweries and brew-pubs in the U.S. and Canada, plus reviews of said establishments. Since a local Web development shop runs this site, it covers almost 200 bars and brew-pubs in the D.C. area alone.

Beertown: At the Web home of the Brewers Association, current or potential home-brewers can order a plethora of hard-to-find brewing guides and find the closest home-brew supply store. There's also a craft-brew treatise that will probably appeal mainly to hard-core types.

– Michael Tedeschi