From our first Seattle Food and Friends gathering, photo credit Pranee Halvorsen.
At a conference like IFBC the social connections are equally if not more important than the presentations. On the way to the fabulous Sur La Table outing I got to meet author Erica Dermer of Celiac and the Beast. Because my mom is a celiac and lived with me for nine months this year, I could relate to Erica’s stories of the trials and tribulations folks with celiac go through.
People often don’t believe that a celiac’s condition is real or serious, and I’ve seen that even within my own family. Many people who know my mom have thought that her food sensitivities were mental and not physical. She has many other food sensitivities besides gluten, which is often the case. Unfortunately, a celiac person’s digestion can be so worn down by their reaction to gluten that they become unable to digest other types of food, and that may or may not change once they are on a gluten-free diet.
I also met Laurie Barrie of Gluten-Free Yummy. Like me, she’s a hobby blogger, and it’s good to know that there’s still a place for bloggers like us at IFBC. She told me that though she has access to a wide variety of cameras, she shoots all the photos for her blog with her iPhone. Her photos are excellent! It proves, as she said, that lighting is key.
Raquel DeHoyos, who writes at Boastful Food, organized a regular meetup for IFBC attendees living in the Seattle area, which I’ve joined. The first meeting of Seattle Food and Friends was hosted by Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen at her home. Pranee teaches Thai cooking, leads tours of Thailand, and writes Pranee’s Thai Kitchen.
There was lots of energy at our meeting (and of course, great food). Within our little group we have expertise in photography, marketing, writing, teaching, and of course cooking!
Several of our members were excited by the possibilities of the video live-streaming app Periscope. I’ll talk about that more in my next post, about the IFBC seminar What to Do After You Hit Publish. Periscope and similar apps raise major concerns for me about privacy. Not just my own privacy, but that of my family and members of the public. If you are live-streaming a public event, people may just walk by and be included in the video. In my blog I’ve tried to maintain a standard of only including images of people who have given permission.
But technology and the Web are nothing if not change. I don’t want to become an old fuddy-duddy so I have to figure out how to use these new technologies wisely. I’m glad to be part of our little group with its real-life connections and fresh excitement about blogging and new media in general.
This is Pranee’s photo of the table at our first gathering. I’m looking forward to our next meeting in December.
Note to readers: I committed to write three posts about IFBC in order to receive the blogger rate for the conference.
Related Posts:
IFBC 2015 Part I: Food Swap IFBC 2015 Part 1, the energy, a food swap, and lunch at Loulay's.
The Chef in the Hat at IFBC Chef Thierry Rautureau: as remembered at his restaurant Rover's, and at the International Food Blogger's Conference.
Picking up the Pieces Picking up the pieces of my health and life after a family emergency.
On Trend at IFBC: Becoming Vegetarian Vegetarianism featured at the International Food Blogger's Conference in talks by Joe Yonan, Washington Post Food and Travel Editor, and Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg,
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
What a fun conference – I’d love to attend a food blogger conference some day. Glad you got to meet such wonderful people in person!
Eva recently posted..Cinnamon toast overnight French toast bake
Yes, loved meeting folks in person.
Mary,
I didn’t have a chance to know you at the conference but I am so glad we did with our connection with IFBC. I am looking forward to seeing our group soon.
Definitely! Our group inspires me to keep my blog going.