6 Surprising A-ha Moments about Blogging

Hi there. It’s been 6 months since I started Paris Food Affair, and it’s been a lot of fun.

I’ve learned 6 surprising things in the past 6 months:

1. I don’t like writing about restaurants. Eek, that’s a problem. Hey, genius, maybe don’t have a food blog? All I’m saying is that at some point, I just started presenting information like a monkey. “This is a restaurant. It is located in Paris. It has food that you can buy. Here is a picture.” Eat banana, repeat. I still love food and food photos, so that will remain the central theme; I just want it all to be a bit more interesting than that.
2. You don’t need another Paris food encyclopedia. I’m not trying to measure up to Le Fooding or Paris by Mouth, with a massive encyclopedia of everywhere to eat in Paris. I love that we have both of those sites, among others, as resources, but since that’s not my end goal, I should stop writing like that’s the plan. To be the slowest developing encyclopedia of all time. Goal achieved.
3. Stories are way more fun. I could say that the veal cutlets at Michelin starred Lasserre were tender and round, but I’d rather talk about how my friend launched one of the cutlets onto her left boob and describe the fallout that ensues when you throw meat on yourself at a fancy restaurant. Why shouldn’t you get to learn about a restaurant while also hearing about a 40 euro piece of veal lying on the carpet and the internal struggle about whether to pick it up or leave it? That is far more interesting in my opinion. More stories, is the point.
4. Lists are pretty awesome. I should make more lists since they make great resources. This post about 6 new Paris restaurants became my most popular and most shared post, with 7 Paris Brunches right behind, so that tells me that compiling information together into a list is pretty useful and helpful. If there are any certain lists I should consider including, by all means, let me know.
5. I’m not a food critic, and I don’t feel the need to broadcast a bad food experience. There’s some chef in the kitchen who has been on his or her feet for 16 hours, so who am I to eat somewhere once or twice and then rip a place to shreds? That’s just not something I’m interested in. I want to support and encourage people in their ventures, and spreading negativity is not my thing. There are thousands of restaurants in Paris that aren’t worth your time, and I’m going to talk about the ones that are worth your time. The photos of the duds can quietly disappear into the digital netherworlds.
6. Maybe this could be a food vlog. That’s a thing, right? Sneaky surprise: I’ve actually been working on an exciting new video series about eating in Paris – they’ve been so fun to make – and that’s got me to thinking: Maybe I’ll start posting short videos of restaurants every now and then, rather than mere static photos and words. Shake it up.

Ok, since the secret’s out: There’s a special video series coming in the fall, including interviews with top chefs, bloggers, and other Paris personalities, so stay tuned. They are all filmed and edited by a video production company, so what I’m saying is, I’m going to be the less crass version of Anthony Bourdain.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Paris Food Affair is about a love affair with Paris and a love affair with food, so expect to hear about Paris more. If you come here to learn about food, does that make you less interested in Paris? Because how can you not be interested in Paris? It’s PARIS.

I want to shout far and wide about the awesomeness and beauty and wonder that is Paris and at the same time, help people know where to eat insanely delicious food. That’s reasonable, right?

My challenge over the next month is thus:

• Write more frequently
• Make it brief (Look at this one – It was supposed to be brief, and I made a novel. I have a problem.)
• Tell more stories
• Show more Paris

Thanks for checking in, and please tell me if there’s anything you’d personally like to know or learn or see!