Cook, eat or shop for food? We need your brains

If you read other sections of the Observer than the Food section (it's OK, you won't hurt my feelings), you may have read announcemens about our new Carolinas Public Insight Network.

It's a cool thing, actually: You feel out a form detailing your areas of expertise, and we add you to a database of people we use as sources for stories. We don't sell your name or pass it on to anyone else. We use you for journalism, not for marketing. We don't even have to quote you if you don't want. We can just use your advice to get background on a story.

But it occurs to me that the first thing you think of when you see a fancy phrase like "public insight network" isn't food. People don't always think of food and cooking as something all that important.

It is important. Food expertise is as valuable as any other kind of expertise. Maybe more -- food costs you money, food keeps you alive, food is the one thing every person experiences.

Bargain food shoppers, locavores, expert cooks, trained chefs, people who know more about the best chili dog in the state -- we need those kinds of experts, too.

So, please go to www.charlotteobserver.com/signup . Fill out the form. And in the box for your personal or professional specialties, make sure you include a little about what kind of cook or eater you are.

Thanks.