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Beginner’s Guide
So what are food blogging events?
An abbreviated history of food blogging events
Well as ever a bit of historical context can make it much easier to understand what is going on.
In the beginning there was a blogger in Germany (he is still there actually Alberto has since moved to greener - and wetter - pastures) with a blog called Il Forno. Said blogger got to thinking about blogs and recipes and how people are influenced by each other and decided to channel all this creative energy into the following, seminal, piece of food blog writing history.
Why not put up a day where, just for the fun, bloggers take up a certain theme and come up with a recipe (original or not) for it? It would be really interesting to see what people from different backgrounds come up with and a great chance to get new ideas. It would be even better if bloggers who don't usually post about food would take part... surprise us! In honour to cooking disasters (which everyone meets sooner or later) I thought that maybe calling it the "Is my Blog burning? day" would be a nice idea.
Of course the final touch of genius is the all important roundup of all the recipes at a hosting blog. The roundup is essential because otherwise how would we know who participated and what they did! The first event, with a theme of "soups", had a total of 14 participants and Alberto himself was the host.
The next event was hosted by Clotilde with the theme of tartines and a total of 28 recipes.
As you can see the trend was catching on quite fast and now there are literally dozens of events - in fact one could do nothing but participate in food blogging events!
Rules, regulations and obligations
Now, quite a few have asked about the rules that govern such events. How do we decide who hosts, what is allowed and what is not allowed in terms of recipes.
I am in general against extensive regulation and the following is simply my view on the subject.
1. The hosts are decided by the event creator. So for IMBB that is was Alberto, for Wine Blogging Wednesday its Lenn, etc.
2. Participants should ideally have blogs in which they post the relevant recipe, picture, etc. If you don't have a blog and would like the host to post your recipe that is up to the host's discretion (and time constraints).
3. Always, always, always be nice! These are events done just for fun and true enthusiasm for food and sharing thoughts about food. Try not to demand that round-ups are online right away or pressure hosts constantly. We are all (or almost all) doing this just as a hobby.
What to do next...
So there you have it. Food blogging events in a nutshell with some vegs on the side. If you have a food blog and have not yet taken part, try it - you just might like it. If you don't have a food blog but would love to get involved get a blog started. It only takes five minutes and who knows... some years down the line you might be sharing a limo with Ken Hom on your way to some important food gathering!
That's not all! - Do it with Gusto
This site also allows you to share food links with other and vote on the best ones. A great way to keep updated with what's going on across the foodie blogoshere (and the rest of the foodie web for that matter!).
To post a link you just need to register.
Of Bookmarklets and more...
There are two ways to post a foodie link - one is the "hand-made way" - whereby you click on Post Foodie Link from the left-hand side bar after you login in. That will take you to form where you can fill in all the details.
Otherwise you can get the "Mixer 5500 automatic version" and go the bookmarklet way. A bookmarklet is just little link that you put on the toolbar of your browser that when click will take you straight to the IMBB page for posting a link (provided you are logged in) and fill in the title and link for you.
Just read the instructions below on how to add the bookmarklet to your browser.
For Firefox: click and drag the image below to your toolbar.
For Explorer: right click on the image below, choose "Add to Favorites" and add to the "Links" folder.
For Safari: click and drag the image below to the toolbar
Blogger?... then you need some Gusto
If you have a blog and would like to make it easy for people to post your stories on IMBB then add the following bookmarklet at the end of your posts or on the sidebar of your blog. It works just like StumbleUpon, Digg etc - but this is just for foodies!