Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers

Food Blogging

Food Blogs Should Inspire and Surprise, says Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle Et Vanille

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A romantic image typical of the style of Cannelle Et Vanille (Photo used with permission of Aran Goyoaga)

I first discovered Cannelle Et Vanille two years ago, when I methodically went through every single blog listed on the The London Time’s list of “50 of the World’s Best Food Blogs.” Aran Goyoaga’s blog was second on the list, and she had only been blogging for a year.

Her sun-lit, romantic photos of desserts and fruit drew me in, as did the stories about her family, travels, and baking. I learned that Goyoaga had been a pastry chef for a Ritz-Carlton, then started blogging and taught herself photography.

Since that prestigious list catapulted her into the public eye, Goyoaga’s blog has attracted the attention of magazines in Europe and the US, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow‘s Goop newsletter, which praised the blog’s gluten-free theme, expert recipes and gorgeous photography. Last fall, seven publishers vied to publish Goyoaga’s upcoming cookbook. Little, Brown & Company will publish the book in fall, 2012.

I caught up with Goyoaga right before BlogHer Food, where she was a guest speaker:

Aran Goyoaga of Canelle Et Vanille (photo by Txomin Goyoago)

Q. You’ve been blogging since 2008, less than three years, and have attained so much success. I’m sure many new bloggers want to know how you did it.

A. At first I want to say it’s for the photography, but before that I had a following because of the recipes. I was a trained professional chef who left her career to take care of her children at home. I was trying to merge professional pastry chef techniques at home. Then I became very interested in photography. We’re all very visual people, and people come to my blog to see how I photograph.

Also my blog has a nostalgic tone to it, because food has always been a connection to my family. I left everyone to come to the US. My grandfather had a bakery and the family gathered there. When I left the Basque country I had an MBA, but nostalgia for food drew me back, and my blog has that tone and sentiment. People like to read about my background, my childhood, and how I relate to food. I have this romantic idea of food — growing your own food and being close to nature. Dad’s side of the family was farmers, so they probably don’t romanticize it.

We all like to feel close to home, we like to be nurtured, we all think about our families and upbringing. Maybe it’s the time we live in, where we want comfort and home-cooked meals.

Q. Do you think it’s an advantage to have worked as a professional pastry chef and graduated from culinary school, when it comes to developing recipes?

A. No. Culinary school gives you a lot of technique, but you don’t necessarily need that to develop recipes. You can learn that from reading a book, watching TV or watching people cook. Culinary school opened a lot of doors and I was able to find work in (restaurant) kitchens. I worked with French and German chefs. I already knew [Read more…] about Food Blogs Should Inspire and Surprise, says Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle Et Vanille

What I Learned about Food Writing at IACP

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Around My French Table won this year’s IACP award for Best Cookbook of 2011.

Now that you’ve read about my social life at the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in Austin, you should know that I learned something too. Here are highlights from some of the sessions I attended:

1. Writing. At a session on The Craft of Food Writing featuring speakers Antonia Allegra, head of The Symposium for Professional Food Writers at the Greenbrier; The Washington Post‘s Food Editor Joe Yonan; and cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, Allegra handed out a list of the job titles for food writers, including

  • culinary anthropologist
  • culinary historian
  • food scientist
  • food market economy writer
  • indexer
  • industry researcher
  • public relations writer
  • television script writer, and
  • video food writer.

Yonan said he runs 52 freelance pieces a year, and gets pitched 30 queries a day. When it comes to first person narrative, pitches that focuses on how food tastes makes him crazy. “Get me out of the inside of your mouth,” he implored. “Write about how food has turned you into what you’ve become. Food writing often involves memory and nostalgia, and food that means something to you, in crucial times in your life.”

He recommended the book Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing to sharpen writing skills. “More than anything, your goal is clarity.”

Greenspan spoke about recipes as “what we do to pass along tradition, keep customs alive, transmit what we discover, and preserve culinary information.” She said our one responsibility to readers is to be accurate, “no matter how boring that might be.” In the headnote, she tells about taste, texture, and perhaps a technique. She teaches about an ingredient or a custom. She likes to tell a story. “Place a recipe in a culture, tradition, country, or ritual. Associate it with a person or an experience.

Finally, Greenspan said, the best thing we can do is “encourage the cook to make (the recipe) part of his or her own story, to understand how to adapt it, and how they can then own the food. Recipes can be a glimpse into a place they dream of going.”

Only 20 % of content came from the blog.

2. Blog-to-Book. In an “Experts are In” session with blogger Hank Shaw and Greenspan, Shaw, a former news reporter, spoke of a “relentless level of professionalism” on his blog. “The only successful blogs are when you open a vein,” he said. “People want to read you.” For his new book, Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, 80 percent of the material is original.

As to when they post, “I always post on either Sunday or Monday,” says Hank. “Most people read blogs at work, they want something fresh when they get in.” Never blog on Saturdays, he advises. And overall, he says it’s better to write less often than more often and badly. Greenspan, on the other hand, posts when inspiration strikes her, often triggered by a photograph. She referred to her blog as a monster. “It’s like having a dragon in your house that’s always hungry.”

The authors saw a trend coming and jumped on it, with sales of 1.2 million copies.

3. Cookbooks. Who says the cookbook is dead? Rux Martin, senior executive editor of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said in a session called “The Ever-Expanding Cookbook” that, despite rumors to the contrary, the printed cookbook is alive and well. She had her best year ever in 2010. One of the books she edited, Hello Cupcake!, sold 1.2 million copies. What’s New Cupcake! has sold 600,000…so far.

When Your Partner Reads Your Work

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Last week at a panel on writing at BlogHer Food in Atlanta, David Leite said he never asks his partner to read his drafts.

“My husband cowers in the corner when I ask him to read something,” he confessed. He suggested people find someone else to review their writing, or just read it themselves.

“Do not give it to your partner to read,” he cautioned. “They’ll either fawn over caca or critique everything.”

I took the mic and respectfully disagreed. My husband reads almost every blog post I write. And I’m thrilled that, after 23 years of marriage, he is still willing to critique my work in a constructive manner.

It takes discipline to be just as respectful as he delivers the news, however. I’m still working on that. If I get out my annoyed voice and say, “What are you talking about? Of course readers will understand,” it doesn’t help.

Here’s what Owen reads for in a blog post:

1. Am I talking to myself? Sometimes I assume readers know, and he has no idea what I mean. In the rewrite, I back up and explain a situation or fill in a gap.

2. Is he bored? My post is exciting to me, but I notice if he’s not getting into it. While he is not my target reader, if he finds it difficult to concentrate, I figure out how to pump up the language, make the beginning snappier, or tighten the delivery. (Miraculously, he found this post riveting.)

3. Do long sentences need untangling? Sometimes he trips over them. That lets me know that I need more variety in my sentence lengths, to establish rhythm and interest.

4. Do I have typos, spelling or punctuation errors, or  extra spaces? He’s great at finding them.

I don’t ask Owen to read everything. For a cover story on food writing for the May/June Writer’s Digest (sorry, it’s only available on a newsstand), I enlisted two colleagues, both bloggers and freelance writers, to review a draft for me. I promised to read something for them in return.

Ironically, I realized recently that Owen doesn’t ask me to read his stuff (he writes product reviews for a Mac website as a hobby). When I asked him why, he said I’m too busy editing other people’s work. Sweet!

If you don’t have someone to read your work, try reading it out loud to yourself. And if you do use a partner or spouse for feedback, I’m curious to hear how, or whether, it’s worked for you.

Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

5 Notes to Self for Coping with Conference Anxiety

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Remember the cool kids at school? I was not one, and that sometimes comes back to me at conferences.

As soon as we sat down, tears streamed down her face. At the last event of Blogher Food 2011 Saturday night, the 40-year old, successful food blogger had asked if we could talk privately. We found a room upstairs, away from the throbbing dance party music.

“Some of the women at the conference are so mean,” she said, wiping away tears. She had met them before, yet they walked right by her without acknowledging her. Feeling overwhelmed, she said she’d rather be home gardening, or spending time with her children.

“It happened to me too,” I said. I was talking to a Famous Person when another Famous Person came up and discussed who they were inviting to dinner. Right in front of me.

And just like that, we were two high schoolers again. We desperately wanted to be adored, part of the in crowd and part of the cliques that gather. We wanted the cool people to notice us. We wanted to be cool too.

Feeling bad about her state of distress, I said most of the people at the conference felt the way she did (resisting adding “aside from a few clueless rude people.”) We’re all in a stressful situation, even though we’re thrilled to be there. That’s why we gather. According to the BlogHer Food folks, the number one reason attendees come is for the “community.”

But we don’t know all these people, and we’re not used to gathering like this. Who’s used to spending 15 hours a day or more with 500 people you hardly know? Who’s used to other people evaluating whether you’re worth sitting next to, talking to, rooming with, or inviting to a private event? It’s easy to get annoyed.

Even though I’ve attended writing and culinary conferences for more than 10 years (see liveblog of my session on recipe etiquette at BlogHer Food), I can’t always escape the anxiety that [Read more…] about 5 Notes to Self for Coping with Conference Anxiety

Five Reasons to Go to a Food Blogging Conference

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I’m packing for BlogHer Food in Atlanta this weekend. Going to conferences always energizes me. I get new ideas for posts, learn from the best, reconnect with old friends and make new ones. And I always have a blast.

Jackie Garvin of Syrup and Biscuits asked how to pick the best food blogging conference to attend. Each is a little different, but basically, all give you the opportunity to hang with other bloggers and get crushes on a select few. You’ll also learn about SEO, branding, writing, photography, marketing…all the stuff you’re trying to master.

Best of all, blogging conferences are fun. This is critical if you’ve been writing alone in your bedroom. You need to get out! I say pick a conference and get involved with a smart, energetic group of (mostly) women who are going through the same things. You’ll get inspired, refreshed, and energized. Even if you don’t have a blog because you’ve been focusing on other kinds of writing, it’s worth a look to understand the blogging phenomenon.

BlogHer Food 2009, in front of the bookstore.

This year I’ll be taking about recipe etiquette on a panel with David Leite, moderated by attorney Lisa Barry-Kessler. At BlogHer, the moderator and audience have as much to say as the speakers, so I look forward to discussing adapting, copyright, and other issues I write about on this blog.

Please come say hello if you’re attending, and tell me about your blog. I like to know who’s reading Will Write for Food so I can say thank you. (I’ll be one of the senior people there among the 30-somethings. That’s my photo in the right-hand corner. )

No matter which food blogging conference you choose (including Food Blogger Camp; Eat, Write, Retreat; International Food Blogger Conference [two locations this year]; Camp Blogaway; Food Buzz [if you’re a member]; and Food Blog South), there are valuable reasons to go:

  1. Become part of a community of hardworking, intelligent writers. This includes meeting bloggers you admire, bloggers you can relate to, and bloggers who become friends
  2. Learn how to make your blog more successful and meaningful through the workshops and classes. You’ll get tons of new ideas and feel energized about your blog
  3. Increase your skill level as a photographer, sometimes with hands-on classes
  4. Party at evening events where you have to wear something other than sweats and pajamas, and
  5. Collect swag. Some people leave room in their suitcases for freebies they want to lug home.

If you’ve already been to a few blogging conferences, maybe you have your own list of benefits. Tell me whether you think it’s valuable, and what you enjoyed most.

* * *

For more on attending food blogging conferences, see:

Post About Dog’s Birthday Cake Wins Humor Writing Contest

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I smiled, I giggled, I chuckled and I marveled at all the clever writing. Many thanks to all 41 people brave enough to enter my humor writing contest.

One post made me laugh out loud. It’s from Sharon Graves of Cheesy Pennies, who wins a copy of The Sweet Life in Paris:

“Most of my favorite funny posts are about my dog…here’s an original recipe posted on the occasion of his 3rd birthday.

Peanut Butter Bonanza Bowser Birthday Extravaganza
An original recipe by my daughter

4 Trader Joe’s Natural Dog Treats, Peanut Butter Flavor
1/4 jar of peanut butter of your choice
1 birthday candle

Slather 1/2 of peanut butter between 2 treats to form sloppy, sticky sandwich. Set on counter without a plate, then turn around and touch a lot of other things [Read more…] about Post About Dog’s Birthday Cake Wins Humor Writing Contest

When Someone Dumps My Blog: The 7 Signs of Grieving

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The email announces, “Unsubscribe Notification.”

When I open it, it says only that “(email address) has unsubscribed from Will Write for Food.”

There is no checking of boxes. I want more clues. I want “I am dumping you because:

  • You suck
  • I’m too busy to waste time reading your blog
  • Both of the above.”

That would help me. Really. Instead, an unsubscribe notice sends me through the Seven Signs of Grieving:

1. Shock: Who dumped me? The email address is undecipherable. Fortunately for the reader, I have no idea, even though I sometimes try to figure it out.

2. Denial:  I decide not to read email for the rest of the day. It feels great! I spend my spare time cutting out paper snowflakes and looking for four-leaf clovers.

3. Bargaining. One time I recognized the email. It was a  famous food writer. I considered [Read more…] about When Someone Dumps My Blog: The 7 Signs of Grieving