Eat Drink Blog Conference 2010: How and Why We Blog

As a newbie to the food blogging scene, I was beside myself with excitement when the invite to ‘Eat Drink Blog’, Australia’s first food blogging conference, arrived.

I couldn’t wait to meet some of the people whose words and recipes have inspired me, and to learn from Australia’s best online food writers (I hate the word ‘blogger’).

I could rehash the happenings of the day at Essential Ingredient and St Ali but the events, talks and photos have been documented superbly by fellow bloggers, with EatDrinkBlog panel presentations here, photos here, and attendee blog posts here (including coverage in The Age newspaper and SBS Food)

Instead, I want to comment on my journey and share newly acquired knowledge, in the framework of the conference topics. Firstly….

Why yes. That’s a two year old mini Cake Mistress, clearly chuffed over the pile-o-sugar in front of me.

Baking has always been a part of my life, thanks to my Mum. After school there were always fresh muffins, biscuits or her signature chocolate jam cake waiting for the hungry tribe (I hope to track down the recipe soon).

It wasn’t long until I wanted a piece of the action (piece… geddit? Boom *tish*. Bad joke) and when I was eight years old I started baking for myself, never really stopping.

The “Hey, Does My Cake Smell Like Chloroform” recipe. Or, “Sorry, It’s Not My Fault Chocolate Squares and Laxatives Look The Same” post.

Whenever I bake, there’s an emotion behind it. There’s been the ‘Why Doesn’t He Love Me’ cakes, the ‘What A Bad Week’ cookies and the ‘I Miss You’ brownies.

This leads me into the “why we blog” question. A common reason was that ‘old’ print media no longer captured what us, the readers, were looking for. Blogs differ from the glossy magazines, newspaper lift-outs and hardcover cookbooks. Blogs offer an immediate connection with a genuine ‘real’ person. We write more about our fabulous local restaurants and cafes down the road, and less about the fancy-schmancy places in some exotic destination we’ll never visit. We have family recipes and cultural traditions, and often there are stories to go with them.

While I know the story behind what I’m baking I often don’t share that here. Upon reflection, I started writing around the same time that I moved away from family and friends in Perth, to Melbourne. My cake output increased at the same time, surprise surprise. And so the online Melbourne journal I started morphed into a baking blog. Others had similar stories at the conference, with many starting their blogs on unrelated topics.

My new writing goal: to let you in on the stories and emotions that inspire each dessert.

Hopefully you won’t see any “Hey, Does My Cake Smell Like Chloroform” recipes or “Sorry, It’s Not My Fault Chocolate Squares and Laxatives Look The Same” posts anytime soon, he he. 

1. It’s a creative outlet

There’s nothing I love more than coming home at the end of a mundane day and going crazy in the kitchen. I’d do it everyday if there were enough people to eat the results! I love it all, from the hands-on baking process, recipe development and cake decorating through to the food styling, photography, aesthetics, post-production, writing and website design.

2. To stop spamming Facebook with pictures of stuff I’ve baked

My own site gives me space to freely and unapologetically spam the world with pictures of food. Although I’m still a shameless sugar-pusher on Facebook at times. Sorry guys!

3. Online content is the future: using the blog as a medium for sharing baking shenanigans and recipes with friends, old and new.

Apart from helping me keep track of what I’ve made and how I’ve made it, blogs of this nature to me are like living, evolving recipe books. Often a recipe is lifted from a cookbook, adapted by one baker, who inspired another baker, who included their own twist etc, and a recipe makes its way around the world. Improvements are suggested and shortcomings are fixed by the community via feedback and comments. All of this happens at an extraordinary rate in comparison to ‘old media’, making it feel archaic in comparison.

4. To connect with a community of like-minded people online and in real life

It’s so great to be in touch with a group of people who get as excited as watching dough rise as yourself.

5. To create the website I wanted, but couldn’t find anywhere*

*Not that my website is anywhere near what I want it to be yet, but I’m working on it in my increasingly difficult to procure “spare time”.