Tuesday, April 5, 2011

On Food And Prizes.....

 
  Okay, a very interesting thing is afoot here. I saw several food friends' twitter notices about Saveur Magazines' Blogging Contest. I followed the link, read all about it and of course re-tweeted it.
This Food Awards thing is strange to me coming from my background. I get to wield my small wand of influence once a year at Awards season since I've earned the right to vote for screenplays. This I understand. This food blogging thing not so much.
   Since I'm writing on my paid work during the day, my food blogging is done after my "real writing" if it's not been too exhausting. I usually catch up with the rest of my food friends reading in the evening and occasionally during work hours when Alan will look across our desk at me and ask "what are you writing?" "Nothing" I mutter. Is this what porn feels like? That is how I find out most of what is going on. Who is posing nude with what free range chicken and what challenges involving bung or taint have been thrown out to eager food bloggers. I admit I fell for the bung thing since Saltyseattle actually did cook it once. I saw the pictures. My bad.
  So when I read Saltys' post on Saveurs' Food Blogging Awards, it really struck a nerve. Maybe it was the fact that I've spent the evening watching the first batch of short films we've been sent as part of our job as jurors at the Sonoma Film Festival. Maybe it's the primitve siren song of Contest that caught my eye. I haven't really won a contest since I was chosen to be on the Marshall J Show on TV on San Francisco when I was 11. Yeah, I've been nominated for stuff in my field... but never a winner. The Food World opens a whole other bag of competitive tricks, and Salty has posed an interesting question. Do awards really matter? In the movie business it depends on who you ask. Winning is great but even the nominees get gift baskets!
  I suppose the nominee's gift baskets in the food blogging world are not complimentary Jimmy Choos, or Spa Days, or zillion dollar sunglasses, but traffic to ones' website. Or a complimentary years supply of offal. So in that case, just being nominated is Duh....Winning!  But here's the rub, (and it can either be a wet rub or a dry rub) is it right to nominate oneself??! 
   Everyone that has a food blog wants to be noticed in some way shape or form, even if it's to have another fellow food geek say "hey, nice whisk!" And one of the best ways to get noticed has always been to enter a contest. Most contests are easy. Just enter. Fill out the coupon, eat the Activia, count the beans in the jar. But best blogger? Really?
    There are so many great food bloggers out there doing so many different things with different cuisines and techniques. Is the person who kills, cleans and cooks their own chicken displaying more mad skillz than someone who makes an entire wedding cake out of natto and gluten-free roses? I don't think so. Is the person who does slow food lesser than the person who goes super outta space molecular? Not really.
   There aren't enough categories to contain all the food bloggers that I read and enjoy regularly. Regional, International, funny, serious, cooking from scratch, on a budget; I could go on and on. We're a hard bunch to pin down. But that's the good part. I look forward to seeing what blogs and bloggers pop up as nominees, I hope to see some people I haven't stumbled across before.
   I'll be making out a list of my favs over the next day or so, and I have to add with Heather from FarmGirl Gourmet, I wouldn't mind one of those little red sticker things either. Years of Catholic School guilt will of course keep me from ever nominating myself. However, if Alan knows what's good for him and wants to keep eating ... besides, he didn't go to Catholic school.
 

6 comments :

  1. Thanks for Posting this information. Very interesting. Your blog is excellent and should certainly be nominated!!

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  2. I agree with Mina!! It's like reading porn...that has got to be an awesome line!

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  3. Belinda @zomppa,
    you are so right, there's always a bit of guilt when I'm caught staring at food porn

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  4. Hey! You buried this amazing post right underneath another amazing post so it was very tricky to find. I wondered when you said you were writing something why I didn't catch it. I love your take- it's like we get to see inside the mind of an it-girl since you know all this from the bacon-stained underbelly of the *true* awards industry. TY for sharing your thoughts.

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  5. I couldn't agree more. I've never been one for contests of any kind—especially when it comes to food. For me, food and cooking is about sharing not competing. And to say one blog is the 'best' is pretty arbitrary for all the reasons you mention. It's true in so many fields (including movies, in my opinion) but it's especially true in food blogging. But, of course, I understand those who do participate in these things. Who doesn't like to be noticed?

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