“OMG – you can’t dine out anymore! How have you survived for over 2 months in lockdown as a food blogger in Goa without eating at a restaurant? It must be torture!”
That was the first question a friend asked me when we spoke after 2 whole months of lockdown, yesterday. It’s likely that many food bloggers in Goa and India would have been met with such curious questions by people who wonder what’s really behind this lifestyle of constant eating, drinking, and photographing…
Since we’re all staying indoors, many of you have been starting blogs to keep yourselves creatively occupied, so I thought I’d quickly jot down what food blogging really entails, and hopefully bust some (really ridiculous) misconceptions that the general public has about this new-age profession.
Food bloggers don’t dine out every day
Eating out every day is unhealthy, unrealistic, expensive, and quite frankly, physically impossible! I personally can’t dine out more than twice a week. We may post food pictures every day, but that doesn’t mean we visit restaurants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our phone galleries are filled with pictures we’ve taken over the last couple of months and we often repurpose content. One dish clicked at different angles or with different backgrounds and layouts makes for a week’s worth of posts. Secondly, bloggers may eat 5 dishes at a restaurant during one lunch and click 25 pictures that afternoon – but only one will make it to the ‘gram on that day – the rest would be possibly spaced out for the days when they’re eating non-Insta-worthy home-cooked meals when they have no time to eat lunch but have to post on social media anyway – or in an unforeseen circumstance – like, say the COVID-19-lockdown.
We eat everything we post, but we don’t post everything we eat
Similar to what I just said, but not quite. You may see a food blogger bite into a large, juicy burger but there’s also a lot you’re not seeing – like the bread and butter sandwich eaten for breakfast or the green salad for dinner which we don’t need to talk about. Striking a balance between food blogging and one’s lifestyle is vital to building one’s brand without putting on 5 kgs a month.
Food bloggers don’t always eat what they want to or like to
A first-world problem, for sure, but since we’re busting myths here, this one deserves mention. When our bodies just want to eat a simple salad, we find ourselves eating Pizza. We may want to hop down the street to grab a snack we love, but we’ll drive for 40 minutes to try a new food truck in another part of the city. It may seem like fun and games at the beginning, but there’s constant pressure to post something new and exciting – just for the ‘gram.
Food bloggers don’t eat alone
Seen your favourite food blogger post pictures of dozens of plates laid out on a table? You’d invariably see a comment below the picture saying, “Wow, you ate all that???”
C’mon guys! No one dines alone – and the food is often split among the blogger and the person he/she brings along for the review. Most Indian food bloggers I’ve met hate food wastage and often order only what they and their +1 can eat. Often, restaurants that invite bloggers over tell the blogger upfront that they would like him/her to try out 8-10 dishes and ask if they can bring out tasting portions instead – so you’d get 3-4 chicken wings instead of a dozen on a plate.
Our friends make fun of us all the time! –
and their families do, too! A visit to any relatives’ home will involve aunts or uncles passing snacks around before commenting:
“Are you going to write about this on your blog?”
“Taste it and give me your food blogger opinion”
Or they’d just sheepishly remark “I made this in a hurry, it’s not as good as what you’re used to eating.” – Can you imagine having to deal with these comments every single time you visit someone? *cringe*
Your friends will constantly roll their eyes at you when you try to style and click a picture of your food. Or they’d just leave the food ordering up to you and assume you’ll know the best dishes in every restaurant in the country. Trying to click a picture of your meal (or your friend’s meal) when you’re not doing a restaurant review is impossible – get used to it.
We do more than write Instagram captions and click photos
First off, Instagram and Facebook aren’t blogs. A blog is a website that has articles posted on it (it can range from 500-2000 words as opposed to a one-sentence long caption). A blogger often researches, eats, experiments, interviews, styles photographs, clicks pictures, edits pictures, plans social media content, learns and implements SEO, web designs, does a bit of marketing, develops recipes, writes code, fixes technical issues… and oh yes, actually blogs! But like most things in life, the profession is taken at face value, so obviouslyyy, most people think that all they do is point a camera, shoot, and eat. How hard can it be?
We don’t get rich by blogging about food
In fact, they won’t even be able to buy a pair of jeans with the money they’d earn doing it in an entire year! In India, most restaurants invite bloggers over for a free meal in exchange for features on their blogs. Very few restaurants understand the value of (good) food bloggers and are willing to pay them for their expertise. In all fairness, there are so many food bloggers popping up every day, and it is easier + cheaper for a restaurant to just work out barter deals. If you’re a food blogger with years of experience and a proven track record of showing value for your work, it is possible to get paid, although you still won’t be able to pay your rent with the income.
Yep, as you can see, food bloggers have a tough time growing, honing their skills in an ever-evolving industry, standing out in a sea of bloggers and earning an income out of their passion. If you have a job that didn’t exist a decade or two ago ( I’m looking at you, video game developers, professional photographers, social media managers, et al.) you’d run into people on a daily basis who’d assume you’re just wasting your time, too! Comment below and let me know the common misconceptions about your job! Can’t wait to hear about it 🙂
If you liked this post, you may also like to read about how to stand out in the blogosphere and what to stop doing if you’re a freelance writer. Drop by and visit me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, too! Bye!