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A wonderful, educational and insanely delicious weekend at IFBC

Shadi HasanzadeNemati

Sep 20, 2015, Updated May 14, 2019

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Saturday and Sunday were full of interesting things that I will never forget. Every session was very educating and every speaker was one of a kind. Each and very step of the conference was taken and modified professionally without a slip. Foodista and Zephyradventures did a fantastic and flawless job managing this conference.

Our Saturday started with an early breakfast hosted by StoneyField, an organic yogurt company with very delicious variations of yogurt including gingered pear and apple cinnamon. The breakfast included berry and banana smoothie and pineapple banana smoothie and both were delicious, there were also a variation of yogurts, avocado and yogurt toast and parfait too, all delicious as well.

After breakfast, we met The New York Times food reporter and author Kim Severson  and it was amazing. Every word, every tip was great. Writing about food is great and to many people it may seem easy and casual, but putting taste into words is not something easy to do, as Kim said and I truly agree.

Our first session was about creating a holiday content presented by ANOLON with Irvin Lin, an amazing successful foodblogger and Sarah Flotard who is an outstanding photographer and food stylist. I had a great time listening to their presentation and tips. We also had a wonderful chat after the session.

The second session was about Social media and what you should do after you hit publish, presented by social media expert and food blogger Rebecca Coleman and All Recipes Social Media Manager Lorraine Goldberg. Both Rebecca and Lorraine had so many good tips about using social media for the blog and the results that come with. It came so clear to me that social media is way bigger and influencing than what I thought and every step you take really matters and counts!

Right after the second session, we had participated in Food Swap managed by lovely Emily Pastor who is the founder of  Chicago Food Swap and also food blog West of the loop. It was such an amazing experience I can talk about it for days. Sharing what you have with your friends and tasting other people’s homemade goods is something I have loved since I was a kid. I baked a batch of cinnamon rolls (Recipe will be on the blog soon) for food swap and I swapped them with amazing caramels, yummy toffees by Emily and Dr.Jean Layton  , a jar of homemade mix berry jam made by Carrie from Fresh From Oregon that tasted like eating a whole field of berries and wanting to eat more, savory snacks (Gluten free) and a big big jar of THE BEST HOT BARBECUE SAUCE IN THE UNIVERSE made by my lovely friend Alina from One girl, One glass, One world. Believe me people, food swap is a gift to your lives, and tummies.

After Food swap and having lunch with the most wonderful man in the world aka my husband, we had a session with Andie Mitchell, Aran Goyoaga and Jenn Elliot Blake about writing, food photography and prop styling. Great session and lots of happiness and smiles.

Then there was Curriculamb101 by American Lamb, an introduction to use different parts of lamb in cooking. We watched a demonstration and enjoyed lamb bites. For me as an Iranian, this session was perfect because we eat a lot of lamb in Iran and I love the taste and texture of it. It might not seem delicious to you, but lamb tongue is one of the best parts of lamb, so tender and juicy, every bite tastes like a full restaurant dish if it’s cooked perfectly.

In the evening we joined the Grand Tasting Wine Reception and Culinary Fair and Expo. Both were honestly wonderful. A gathering of great restaurants and food companies, and Wordpress (Thank you Wordpress!). Great treats and delicious products,sweet and savory, everything I had was wonderful.

So this was all for Saturday. Quite a lot ha? Well It was all so perfect.

On Sunday we had a half day started with a nice breakfast hosted by Bays English muffins. We had fresh fruit, muffins, french toast made with English muffins, two types of English muffins (Whole grain and white) with cream cheese, jam, jelly, butter and peanut butter.

Our first session was about Food Trends by Flavor and the Menu’s managing editor Katie Ayoub and Judith Dern from Allrecipes.com. Such a great session. Wait for the new trends to happen on this blog folks!

Our second session on Sunday was about journalism by award winning author Kathleen Flinn. Her talk was one of the best I attended and I learned a lot about writing. That because this is “my blog” doesn’t mean I can be sloppy in my writing  (which is going to be difficult but this is my first practice, writing this post). I am definitely going to buy her books and learn more about writing and having a style.

And our last session for IFBC 2015 was with Christopher Testani, an adventurous photographer who has taken photographs for Bon Appetite and other magazines and companies. His work is clean, modest and meaningful, you can easily see there is story behind each shot.

This is how my first food blogger conference,  IFBC2015 was. I learned way more than what you can guess. Every conversation I made, every speech I listened to, was a great priceless experience. I am so glad I attended this conference and definitely planning to attend next one.

Beside all the good education and food I had on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I also met amazing bloggers and wonderful people. Every person I met at the conference was friendly, nice and smiling all weekend long. I made very good friends, many of them in Seattle and also all across the country. The USA doesn’t seem that scary any more, and I definitely don’t feel lonely in this big country anymore 🙂

I do thank my loving husband, Kyle, who surprised me by registering me on this conference and changed my view of blogging and also food. He is one amazing man and I am grateful for ever that I met him in that November evening in Istanbul 🙂

To me it’s just pure fact that people who are in connection with food, whether they are chefs, producers, restaurateurs, reporters, bloggers, moms!, are nice, happy and generous people. Loving food is beautiful, Loving to make food is more beautiful. Don’t be ashamed by your endless love for food. I did that for years, but that’s not right, if you love food, be in a good relationship with it. Respect yourself and food by eating good, nutritious and healthy food. Food is not just about filling the stomach with whatever available. Develop a  taste, read about it, love it, have your eating style and be happy 🙂

Food is Love 🙂