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| The fabulous venue |
So there I was, London.
I was very nervous before I arrived at the Hempel hotel for Food blogger connect.
It felt like the first day of school.
Some people allready knew each other, some were newbies but nevertheless as soon as the canapés arrived and everyone hauled out their camera, the ice was broken.
We were amongst our own kind.
We started to review the food and soon tips for making the best falafel were exchanged.
Suddenly the mood had changed from the first day at school to a high school reunion.
Smiling faces everywhere, everyone excited about what was coming.
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| The waiter looked very nervous with all the foodies taking pictures! |
When it was time to go into the gallerie we were all cheerful and enthousiastic, like children on a fieldtrip. Our first speaker was the fabulous Jaden Hair from Steamy Kitchen. She talked about laying the foundations for your blog.
During short breaks everyone was running around wanting to meet everyone, exchanging business cards. Glad to see in this digital age that print isn’t dead whatever some people say. A business card is the first advertising for your blog or business, it has to look good and have all your relevant info on it. I personally love business cards, I like flipping through them and discovering peoples personality’s by their cards.
I couldn’t wait to get back to the conference the next morning. I had 1,5 hours commuting to do as my hotel was in the other side of London but it felt like it was only a 15 minute drive. Another wonderful day started, the food was plenty, the people great and the sun was shining…
We had some inspiring workshops with the lovely Fiona Beckett from the Guardian, the long awaited photography workshop with Béatrice Peltre and Nando from Nandocucca showed us the world of video blogging. I think nobody had much sleep during these few days because clearly everyone was visiting each others blogs at night to compliment them on it the next day.
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| Left to right: Jackie, me, Nando, Bethany, Kelly, Valerie, Arthi, Emiko, Julia, me, Zita |
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| Picture by Sarka Babicka (c) cookyourdream.com |
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| Anjum Anand (left) and Caroline Mili Artis (right) |
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| Two British favourits… |
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| Luncheon |
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
It was so great to meet you!!! xo jaden
And you,lady! X
What a lovely post – I adore "Food bloggers are wonderful, unprejudices, creative people with healthy appetites for the world.". It was great to meet you 🙂
Wonderful post, Regula! I loved reading it! 🙂
Lovely to meet you Regula! And congrats on getting married! WOW! x
Lovely recount of an extremely memorable weekend. 🙂
Although we didn't have the chance to discuss at FBC, I'm "close" to you since then, glad to be there too and hope to spend some time chatting next year!
I could quote almost all the post, but I especially like this sentence: Suddenly the mood had changed from the first day at school to a high school reunion.
It is exactly what I felt in London, and I'm so proud of being part of this wonderful community: open, generous and fun!
And I'm happy to have met you!