The first day of #IFBC or International Food Blogger Conference is over and I have a few little gems I’d like to share. First my day started off with a nice little breakfast at Wayward Vegan Cafe – my go to place in Seattle for vegan breakfast and then IFBC started this afternoon.
Photo From PoorMansFeast.com
Next, was a keynote from Dorie Greenspan who had a lot of little gems of information to share that really resonated with me. I was impressed to hear that she has authored 11 cookbooks, worked with Julia Child and has successfully transitioned from old media to “new media” with the web and social media among many many other things. Also she is not formally trained nor did she attend culinary school. A true hero to me, as you may know I have no formal training either but working from home and cooking from scratch has taught me almost everything I know. Julia child was self taught too, so it may be important to know that you don’t HAVE to go to culinary school to be able to create recipes or write a recipe book these days. There’s much more that than just that. You just have to be able to learn, cook, test and test some more. Of course being able to write and take your own photographs doesn’t hurt either. Oh and I forgot to mention putting a lot of love and caring into your work matters a lot too! This is probably the most important part.
Some little quotes from Dorie from her keynote today:
“Community doesn’t happen because you pay. Communities happen because of passion and love”
“Concentrate on the work, it’s the only thing you have control over”
“Do the work you are most proud of”
“Always, always say yes”
She has a wonderful way of speaking that is very personable and authentic and I cannot even begin to repeat all of her culinary and literary work history it was probably the most impressive I’ve heard from anyone… and that says a lot.
So I will remember to “always say yes”, concentrate on my projects and building a community, and keep building what I am proud of. Being real and sharing who you are is so important these days on the internet. People can only connect with you from afar through your words, pictures, or videos so it’s important to take that into consideration and offer up something good – something to be proud of.
Even if you didn’t hear Dorie speak, I think the select quotes I’ve shared above can give you insight into what kind of person she has and the amazing work ethic she continues to show day after day. One day I hope to have created an amazing community and line of cookbooks that I can look back on and be proud of – just like Dorie.
I SO wanted to go to IFBC and I couldn’t get in. Dorie Greenspan is my favorite cookbook and culinary writer. Hearing her talk must have been wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing these quotes and your experience.
LOL, I just reread your article and realized you meant Dorie Greenspan, whom I have never heard of, had no formal training. oops
Yes, this article is about Dorie Greenspan… an accomplished cookbook writer who was WORKED with Julia Child…
I love your blog! I just wanted to clarify one thing though, and you might want to correct your article. Julia Child attended probably THE most prestigious cooking school in the world, Le Cordon Bleu! In addition, she also trained with other well known chefs! I had to double check before commenting and from Wikipedia: “In Paris, she attended the famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and later studied privately with Max Bugnard and other master chefs.” That doesn’t mean I believe you have to be a trained chef to cook or share your cooking 🙂
Thanks again,
Dorie Greenspan didn’t.