Your analogy fails in some important ways - the painter manipulates supplies to produce a tangible product (painting) that incorporates those supplies, and then sells that product to customer. Art galleries exist to display those products for sale; museum galleries may make their money selling tickets, but every art gallery I have ever been in can only survive on sales of their art. Additionally, "paint, brushes and canvas" are not essential to daily life as is food.
You are not buying food to prepare and sell it, you are buying food to cook and eat it. While the resulting dish may increase your knowledge and inform your opinion of a particular ingredient or recipe, you are not producing anything tangible that incorporates those elements - just an opinion.
Should you actually monetize that "opinion", then there would be a basis for expensing the costs incurred to form that opinion. Until then, I would strongly suggest your food blog is going to be treated as a hobby; any hobby costs, however, can be expensed up to your hobby income.
To enter hobby income and expenses, follow the steps below:
- Sign in to your TurboTax account
- Click Federal Taxes tab
- Choose Wages and Income
- Scroll down to Less Common Income and click Start to to right of Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C
- Click Start to right of Hobby income and expenses
