Two Foodies tell you why it is not as easy as you thought!

Written by Cherrie McKenzie
Sponsored by CoActive Dreams

PODCAST #5 – In this podcast episode, I join Foodie Entrepenuer, Chi from Sunnydays Recipes, to talk about our happy cooking journey. Listen to our funny struggles when capturing food photographs, and how we managed to make our food work in pictures. Oh and I was challenged by Chi to recreate the classic Filipino Dish – Chicken Adobo!! Wish me luck!! Click on photo (above) to listen to the podcast.

Thinking of starting a food blog? In the current podcast episode two foodies describe their experiences between cooking and presentation photography, and why it is not as easy as you thought.

The Foodie Entrepreneur Chi Del Resma and her guest Nicole are both dedicated foodies at different stages of the same journey who met based on a love of cooking and especially cooking Asian food. The episode allows you behind the scene to get advice from a foodie just starting out developing her blog and her presentation style and another who has been at it awhile, learned the ropes and developed a breezy approach to cooking and the best presentation of her recipes. It also helps that the latter has a husband who makes the ultimate sacrifice of being the “Melbourne Taster” and gets to sample all kinds of wonderful dishes.

These two foodies are a classic example of how the internet and food can bring people together because Chi is in the Philippines and Nicole is in Australia. The distance did not stop our chat being pretty wild and crazy in addition to providing some great advice. Nicole came to blogging after working from home and having a little time on her hands. She has the flare and confidence of an experienced cook who will do a pinch of this and a dash of that to reproduce a dish. However, she acknowledges despite all that experience things can still go wrong in the kitchen from the oven not working to the ingredients not providing the taste you expected. I call her style breezy because she seems to take it all in stride and nothing goes on her blog until it has met her exacting standards. Chi, on the other hand, approaches her cooking as she puts it in the “Chi way” that is a little more formal in looking for the ingredients and doing a recipe again and again until taste and presentation line up. She too talks of all the things that can go wrong, especially when the recipe tastes good but somehow does not present well and you have a blog post waiting. Both are constantly trolling for new recipes that will inspire and provide a challenge for their skills.

The two of them readily agree that starting a food blog instantly makes you a photographer because no matter how great your food is, the reader can only get a sense of it from the photo you present. Nicole started out with a small camera that got the job done and then graduated to a DSLR. It was only then that she realized the importance of light and props (Something as simple as a green bowl may not work with certain backgrounds, or getting natural light in Melbourne when on certain days it may not be plentiful). Chi is the PhotoShop queen but also admits that even that cannot help you if the light is not right. Time is an important factor for her because she likes to photograph her food while it is hot but also wants to clean up a little which eats into her natural light time.

The episode was a fun time for all and ends with a cook off throw down that will be featured in a later episode (the Melbourne Taster even gets into the act as a judge). So prepare yourself for a fun time while you listen to the chat and find out how the pro’s do foodie blogging.

Stay tuned for podcast #6 where I’ll share what I learnt while cooking Chicken Adobo – something I’ve never eaten or cooked before! I hope I do you proud Chi!