AOL Axes Slashfood, Its Six-Year-Old Food Blog

Following AOL's $315 million purchase of the Huffington Post and the ensuing layoffs, old-school food blog Slashfood is going to be merged into the HuffPo Food section. Yesterday the company sent out an internal memo (which bizarrely hasn't leaked yet) announcing a "major consolidation of its portfolio of content sites." Slashfood was on the list.

It's one of the most senior group food blogs out there: The oldest post with a datestamp we could find is a blogroll from July 21st 2005 which references "Lockhart's new Eater" and "Eater on Curbed."

We got our hands on only a portion of the memo AOL sent — it said: "While their stand alone urls will be phased out, content from this category of sites will be integrated into other existing brands." Word is that the old content will likely be merged into HuffPo Food, and we were assured that the flame will live on in some manner: Slashfood, the brand, will not be entirely erased from the internet.

Reached for comment, Eatocracy's Kat Kinsman — who served as senior editor of AOL Food from 2007 to 2009 — told us: "If this is indeed happening, it’s a sad day not only for the current staff, but for food blog culture at large, and it will be missed."

She also pointed out Josh Ozersky's 3,000 word paean to eating grilled cheese in one's underpants from 2005. It starts: "The love of a sandwich must, I suppose, be an unrequited one; and so grilled cheese and bacon has never stopped to think about how much it means to me. I must know more about it than any person alive."

· AOL Folds 30 Brands, Including Politics Daily [Forbes]
· All Slashfood Coverage on Eater [-E-]