Last updated: 26 July 2026
The short version
FoodLore is a one-person blog run by Lorenzo Russo from Italy. It does not sell your data, does not run advertising networks, and does not have a login system. It does use analytics to see which articles people read, sends a newsletter to people who ask for it, and earns a small commission from a handful of affiliate links.
Everything below is the detail behind those four sentences.
Who is responsible for your data
The data controller is Lorenzo Russo, operating this site as FoodLore (foodlore.blog), based in Italy. For anything on this page, email lorenzo@foodlore.blog.
What gets collected, and why
1. Hosting and server logs
This site is hosted by Automattic (WordPress.com). Like every web server, it records requests: IP address, browser, operating system, referring page and time. This is standard technical logging used for security and to keep the site running.
2. Analytics — which pages people read
- Jetpack Stats (Automattic) — page views and visitor counts.
- Google Analytics 4 — sessions, page views, traffic sources, approximate location by country.
- Google Search Console — aggregate search data only. It never identifies individuals.
These tell me that the article on vertical farm economics gets read and the one on soil degradation does not. They are not used to build a profile of you, and the data is never sold or shared.
3. Session recording — the one worth reading carefully
This site runs Microsoft Clarity, which records anonymised session replays and heatmaps: mouse movement, clicks, and how far down a page people scroll. It is used to find out where an article loses the reader. Clarity masks text content by default, and the recordings are not linked to a name or an email address. Microsoft’s handling of that data is covered by the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
4. The newsletter
If you subscribe to The Weekly Lore, your email address is stored by Jetpack Subscriptions (Automattic) for the sole purpose of sending you the newsletter. It is never sold, rented, or shared. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you immediately. The legal basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
5. Comments and contact
If you leave a comment, the name, email address and comment text you submit are stored, along with your IP address. Comments are filtered for spam by Akismet (Automattic). If you have a Gravatar account, your avatar may be displayed next to your comment. Forms on the site may be served by Crowdsignal (Automattic). Emails you send to lorenzo@foodlore.blog sit in a normal email inbox.
6. Affiliate links
Clicking an affiliate link sets a cookie from the retailer — usually Amazon — so a purchase can be attributed back to this site. That cookie belongs to the retailer, not to FoodLore, and is governed by their privacy policy. Full detail on the Affiliate Disclosure page.
7. The Crop Calendar
The Crop Calendar tool saves your city and your planting plans in your browser’s local storage, on your own device. That data is never sent to a server and I never see it. Clearing your browser data deletes it permanently, and there is no copy anywhere else.
Cookies
Cookies are used for three things on this site: keeping it working (essential), analytics as described above, and affiliate attribution. There is no advertising network on FoodLore and no cross-site ad tracking.
You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Analytics and session recording can also be blocked with any standard content blocker. Nothing on this site stops working if you do — the articles read exactly the same.
Legal basis (GDPR)
- Consent — for the newsletter, and for optional cookies where consent is requested.
- Legitimate interest — for security logging, spam filtering and aggregate analytics used to understand which articles work.
Your rights
If you are in the EU or UK, you have the right to access the personal data held about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to restrict or object to its processing, and to receive it in a portable format. You also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority.
In practice, the only personal data this site is likely to hold about you is an email address (if you subscribed) or a comment (if you left one). To have either removed, email lorenzo@foodlore.blog and it will be done. There is no form to fill in.
How long data is kept
Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe. Comments are kept while the article exists. Analytics data is retained according to each provider’s own retention period. Server logs are handled by Automattic under their own schedule.
Data outside the EU
Automattic, Google and Microsoft are US-based companies and process data outside the European Economic Area under the standard safeguards required by GDPR, including Standard Contractual Clauses.
Children
FoodLore is not aimed at children under 16 and does not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes will be noted on the site.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or a deletion request: lorenzo@foodlore.blog.