Events

Food Blog Forum Nashville Recap

October 11, 2011

Food Blog Forum Nashville was this past weekend and what a weekend it was! Beth from Eat. Drink. Smile., Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil and myself worked incredibly hard for months in advance to bring this shindig to Nashville. I think we did a pretty good job and hopefully a bunch of fellow food bloggers went home happy!

Forgive me for the lack of pictures and the quality as I forgot about my camera for most of the weekend (strange coming from a food blogger!). I was having too much fun!

Arnold Myint

To kick off the weekend, we had a Taste of Tennessee party at the Farmers’ Market. Local vendors gave attendees samples of their delicious products and we even had Chef Arnold Myint from Season 7 of Top Chef! We tasted goodies from Perl Catering, Bathtub Gin, The Bloomy Rind, Corsair Artisan Distillery, Loveless Cafe, Goo Goo Clusters, Grinder’s Switch Winery, O.liv Body Bar, Olive & Sinclair, Yazoo Brewing Company, and Mista Dale’s. To say I left with a full belly is an understatement. A huge thanks to these sponsors for showing our attendees just how good the local taste is from Tennessee!

Swag Bags

As if all that wasn’t enough, each attendee received an awesome bag full of swag. We spent about three hours filling each bag to capacity Thursday night. A big shout out to Annakate from La Aguacate and Tabitha from Life a la Mode for helping us pack all those bags! This is a picture I took as we were hauling all the swag bags to the Farmers’ Market. This doesn’t even begin to tell the story of how many of these we had. I’m proud to say that two SUVs, one sedan, and one coupe hauled all those goodies in one trip. A huge thanks to Beth’s sister, Mechelle for her organizing and packing skills. We couldn’t have handled all the craziness without Mechelle! Planning and organizing obviously runs in the family.

Prizes

We really did an incredible job of making sure our bloggers went home happy. Not only did they get a sweet bag full of goodies, but check out the door prizes. Every single person went home with a door prize. We had some amazing sponsors who were incredibly generous. I can’t begin to thank them enough.

Food Blog Forum

While the goodies are nice, it’s also about the education and the networking. From food styling and photography, to blogging as a business, to recipe development, to blogging etiquette, to working with brands, we had something for everyone. It’s always great to meet fellow bloggers in person that you’ve made friends with via your blog and Twitter, too!

Diane Jaden Todd Scott

We couldn’t have done it without Jaden and Scott of Steamy Kitchen and Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple. Their enthusiasm and passion for food bloggers and blogging is contagious. I always leave with a ton of inspiration and a mile-long to do list.

Todd's Roundtable

Here’s Todd in our roundtable sessions talking more about food photography and styling.

Diane's Roundtable

And the lovely Diane also speaking about food photography and styling in her roundtable.

Kelly's Roundtable

Our bloggers also enjoyed having Kelly Senyei from Just a Taste speaking on recipe development.

Lindsay's Roundtable

It’s our very own Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil talking about blog design. She really knows her stuff as I have her to thank for this pretty blog!

Riffs

Yayos OMG

We treated the bloggers to a food truck court for lunch. Many, many thanks to Riffs, Yayo’s OMG, and Happy Eating for serving up one heck of a lunch and showing just how delicious the food truck scene is in Nashville.

We closed the weekend with an after party courtesy of The Patterson House. They served up yummy bites to eat and a killer menu of cocktails. As if I didn’t already love this place, they really went all out for our folks and made it the perfect ending to a fabulous weekend.

Thank you to everyone that came to Food Blog Forum! It was wonderful to finally meet so many friends in person and make new ones. I always come away with so much joy knowing that there are so many people out there who love blogging about food as much as I do. It really is quite an awesome community. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!

Finally, a GIGANTIC thanks to our sponsors. Our event wouldn’t have been as successful without your generosity. We enjoyed working with you and showing off your products and I’m sure our attendees are very grateful for the awesome gifts!

OXO Just a Pinch Recipe Club
Calphalon Girard's Dressings
Nashville Farmers' Market The Patterson House
Magazines.com Chicago Metallic Swissmar
Whole Foods Farm Flavor Kitchen Aid
Artisan Books The Loveless Cafe

Not able to make it to Food Blog Forum Nashville? Stay tuned! I’ll be giving away one of the awesome swag bags! Can’t wait? Check out Love & Olive Oil and enter to win one there as well!

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  • ehalvey October 11, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    You all did a fantastic job organizing the event!!!

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 8:56 am

      Thanks so much Erin!

  • Jamie October 11, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Looks like such a fun event! Kudos to ya’ll for knocking it out of the park. I enjoyed attending virtually via stalking all the fab swag in your office. 🙂

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 8:57 am

      I kind of miss those boxes piled in my office. My office feels huge now…I think I need to buy a couch for it or something, lol!

  • Chris Chamberlain October 11, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    Y’all put on an unbelievable conference. From the swag bag that was more than worth the price of admission to the educational components and the fun social events, it was a stone blast!

    I also enjoyed getting to spend a little more time talking with you than I had been able to across crowded tables at previous blogger meet-ups. It was great to get to know you better and discover you’re as irreverent as I am.

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 9:13 am

      Thanks so much, Chris! Likewise chatting with you Saturday. I take your comment as a big compliment as not everyone appreciates my word vomit.

  • Lesley October 11, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    You guys really did do an amazing job. I’d love to know how it compares to other FBFs, if for no reason other than to have managed expectations of the next one. 🙂

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 9:17 am

      Thanks! I think we set the bar a little high for the next one, but it’s in Orlando…at Disney, so I think Julie from The Little Kitchen has us beat already. 😉

  • Susan in the Boonies October 11, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    I am just broken hearted that I couldn’t be there to celebrate and learn with you!!! It sounds like it was an awesome event!!! Congratulations on hosting such a great thing. If there is ever a next time, I will do all that I can to be there!!!

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 9:19 am

      Thanks, Susan! It was a really fun weekend, sorry you couldn’t be there! The next one is in Orlando in March, so lookout for that one!

  • Heather @Gluten-Free Cat October 11, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    Thank you so much for all of your hard work! It was an amazing event with top quality speakers. You sent us away inspired and with amazing loot! Thank you!!

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 9:21 am

      Aw, thanks so much Heather for the kind words. Glad you could make it and I’m happy you had such a good time. All that hard work was definitely worth it!

  • Grishma October 11, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    loved every moment of it Leah! Great job organizing the event 🙂

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 9:21 am

      Thanks, Grishma! Congrats to you for being Arnold’s sidekick and winning such fabulous prizes! So glad you had a good time!

  • JulieD October 11, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    I had such a wonderful time, you, Beth & Lindsay did such an awesome job. Thank you!!! It was so great to meet you too!

    • Leah October 12, 2011 at 9:27 am

      Julie, it was so nice to meet you! You are so sweet and so helpful with us during the planning and during the event. Glad you had fun and I’m already looking forward to Orlando!

  • Lannae October 12, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    I couldn’t make the FBF, but I love swag! I hope to stay posted so I can win swag! I had too many errands I needed to take care of in the morning, then I went to the Fermentation Workshop at Beaman Park. It was really nice.

    • Leah October 13, 2011 at 9:26 am

      Lannae, you would have loved it! Definitely stay tuned for some swag!

  • kate roche October 17, 2011 at 6:39 am

    I would love the bag so I can pretend I’m you! If I was younger I’d be a chef.

    Wonderful blog.

  • Annakate October 18, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    Awesome roundup! And thanks for the shoutout. 🙂

  • Teresa Blackburn October 18, 2011 at 9:35 pm

    Great event, well organized, I had fun, learned lots, made some new food friends, ate some good food and generally thought it was a fab time.
    Job well done to all.