Foodie discusses blogging at Berkshire Athenaeum

PITTSFIELD – Remember the lively and heartfelt song “Food Glorious Food” sung by the hungry orphans in the musical Oliver?

Well, Shirley Quezada, from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, traveled to town to present a program titled “Food Glorious Food,” where she expounded on her favorite food blogs.

The presentation was part of “Boom! Next Chapter,” a series of lectures on a variety of subjects being held weekly at the Berkshire Athenaeum through September.  It’s programming that provides information and ideas on pursuing a healthy, creative and productive retirement for baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964).

Lectures free to public

The free lectures are co-sponsored by the Berkshire Athenaeum, Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum, the Ralph Froio Senior Center and Berkshire RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program).

Funding was provided by a Library Services and Technology grant, a federal source of library funding administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, according to information released by the Athenaeum.

Mrs. Quezada is an adjunct professor at Simmons College in Boston. A cook and gardener, she is very enthusiastic about reading food blogs online. 

Lots of blogs

More than 452,000 people have blogs and at least 33,000 of them are dedicated solely to food so foodies have a wide choice of blogs from which to choose.

Blogs, she said, are wonderful ways for people to write down their thoughts as well as get instantly published.

Americans spend 2.7 hours a day online, connecting socially, managing their finances and so forth.

The blogosphere (made of people who write and read blogs online) is a swap meet for the mind, she said.  Food blogs can result in cookbooks and many bloggers have already been published.

Blog adapted to book and movie

She also mentioned the book and movie Julie and Julia, in which one of the main characters blogged while she made recipes from a Julia Child cookbook.

Mrs. Quezada said Paris is one of her favorite places and there are many food blogs aimed at cuisine from France.  One of them is Hungry for Paris (hungryforparis.squarespace.com). It includes a guide to the city’s 102 restaurants.

The food blog Chocolate and Zucchini (chocolateandzucchini.com) offers a monthly newsletter in both English and French as well as an inside guide to where Parisians eat.

She sprinkled her talk with tidbits of personal information. For example, she particularly loves the Wednesday edition of The New York Times, since that’s the day the food section runs.

Blogs have lots to offer

The Smitten Kitchen (smittenkitchen.com) is written by a person whose kitchen is just 42 square feet but turns out amazing food, Mrs. Quezada said.

Canelle et Vanille (cannellevanille.com) is written by a Basque food stylist who is also a former pastry chef.  The photography in this particular food blog is stunning, she said.

A food blog that has become wildly popular is Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com), written by Ree Drummond. She is a Midwesterner and the mother of four children.

Elsie Bauer’s food blog, Simply Recipes (thefoodsection.com) has 100,000 visitors a day, Mrs. Quezada said.

Ethnic food blogs and cake pops, too

There are lots of links to ethnic and special food blogs from Asian and Italian to Mexican and Turkish. Others feature healthy food and the locavore movement.

Very popular now are cake pops, small cakes on sticks that can be decorated for every possible occasion. Their inventor, Angie Dudley, a.k.a. “Bakerella,” has a blog by the same name (bakerella.com).

Mrs. Quezada said she is obsessed with sea salt caramels, made from decadent butter, sugar, cream and sea salt. They are available at Trader Joe’s, a supermarket, right before Christmas.  (There’s one in Albany and one in Hadley.)

She said she found a recipe for blood orange caramels on the blog Matt Bites, then she made them and they turned out quite scrumptious. To find the recipe, simply go to mattbites.com/2010/02/10/blood-orange-caramels.

Originally from California, Mrs. Quezada once spent six years in Brazil. She recently returned form a work-related trip to South Africa.

She said there are many popular food trends such as bison as a leaner meat, bitters, infused pasta and kid food for grown-ups.

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on August 15, 2013. Filed under Community Events,Food,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry