The weather in Boston yesterday was wet and blustery so it made for the perfect day for indoor fun. Coincidentally it happened to also be the day of the first Boston Book Festival. Being a nerd, this festival immediately appeal to me. The day featured over 30 events all focused around writing, books, and communication. I managed to make it to three of the day’s events: an interview of John Hodgman by Tom Perrotta, a panel discussion entitled ‘The Examined Life,’ which focused on memoir writing, and the third, and my favorite of the day a discussion of food writing titled ‘Eat Your Words.’
‘Eat Your Words’ was moderated by Corby Kummer (above left), Senior Editor and food writer for The Atlantic Monthly. The featured guests included Sheryl Julian (above right), Food Editor for The Boston Globe and editor of The New Boston Globe Cookbook and Barbara Lynch (above middle), a James Beard Award winner and chef-owner of an assortment of lauded Boston establishments like No. 9 Park and my personal favorite, Drink. She also recently wrote the cookbook Stir so it was interesting to talk about her experiences going from being an established chef to a first time cookbook writer. The three shared a lot of interesting nuggets from the trials and tribulations of writing a cookbook to how to get good food on the table when life conspires to get in the way. Kummer talked about the difficulty of writing about food when there are so few words available to capture what something really tastes and smells like. He mentioned his career long goal to never use the word delicious in his writing, which served as a reminder that I must always find the most dynamic ways of bringing my food to life through photos and words. As someone who aspires to work more intimately with food it was interesting to hear their perspectives. One of the things Lynch mentioned was that when she was writing her cookbook she had to consciously think not about what she would like to make but what she thought her readers would like to make. It made me think of food bloggers and whether we pick dishes and recipes we think will be a hit among out readers, or whether we cook purely for ourselves and hope the interest will follow.
For those of you who are bloggers, would you say you pick recipes and dishes to feature based on what you think your readers will like or do you cook for yourself and hope that the interest will follow?
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This is an interesting question to ask myself. I feature recipes on my blog that I enjoyed preparing, photographing, and eating… but that I also hope my readers will enjoy.
Kelly, I love the title “Eat Your Words”. So perfect for us bloggers.
I definitely cook for myself and my husband and hope that people like what they see. It’s not fun eating food that you think *someone else* may like.
Sounds like fun!
Good question. I normally cook what I want but I do consider how it photographs. However, cravings conquer all!
Great question! You know, every time I have made something just because I think it would “make a good post,” I disappoint myself. My blog is supposed to be “my magazine,” so I am reminded to be real with myself and just cook, shoot, eat and post. Then, it seems right. Keep up the good work!
Sounds very cool. I just make, photograph and eat whatever I feel like. Although I tend to not put stuff on the blog that is super repetitive or that I absolutely hated. Works for me but I don’t bother posting daily (or even weekly when I’m pressed for time).
What a cool event! I only cook things that we’ll enjoy, but I do try to post them so there’s a bit of variety for my readers (e.g. not 4 desserts in a row) and I don’t post everything, only those recipes that are “blog worthy.”
Very interesting question. I think I mostly focus on what I would like to cook but I also do factor in the audience interest as far as ingredients (try to introduce new things if I can) and balance the posts (as far as range of topics).
I definitely blog about what I cook and eat and hope the interest follows – I understand that this will mean fewer readers, but I’ve found that while I have a high percentage of new readers daily (which I love!), I have a core following that reads me regularly and who regularly cook the things I’m cooking. So it’s more personal and fun for me this way.
What a great event! I’m a total book nerd too! I cook for myself and post it. Some things aren’t blog ‘worthy’ meaning they didn’t turn out as I planned or maybe it’s something so simple that it doesn’t render a ‘real’ recipe. But I do think my readers expect a certain type of recipe from me. I can tell by how many comments I get. Not so many for soups.
Lauren – I agree with you. My approach is pretty similar. Blogging has definitely caused me to think a lot more about what food looks like. I hate it when something tastes great but looks unappealing in photos.
Teresa – I love the title as well.
Elina – That’s a good point.
Why make something you don’t like if you won’t enjoy eating it.
Patti – I think that’s a great point. I find the same thing, when I am true to myself the food just tastes better and I feel more passionate writing about it.
Victoria – I agree with that as well. There are a lot of things I make often that I don’t post about to keep things interesting.
Kerstin – I agree with you. I often debate with myself what I consider blog worthy. It’s not always an easy call because somethings are beautiful, but painfully simple and other things are divine but just gastly to look at.
Natasha – Sounds like a good balance. It definitely comes through in your posts. I always appreciate the variety of recipes and range of techniques.
Sarah – I agree. Being true to yourself makes it great and I think it’s wonderful to have a core following.
Reeni – That’s so funny that you find you get fewer comments if you post soup recipes. I never noticed that!