Morgan Spurlock at the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle, on Friday Aug. 27, 2010
Morgan Spurlock kicked off the opening night of the IFBC conference yesterday, chatting for about an hour about why eating locally grown food matters and how we can get folks to care.
He’s a funny guy, and he talked briefly about creating a Supersize Me sequel called Supersize Me 2: Obesity Boogaloo. (“I still may do it,” he said.) What struck me most were his thoughts on the future of food blogging.
In his opinion, food bloggers need to get away from the computer and get out into the streets. We should be educating people, working with the local media to teach people where their food comes from and how to cook it properly. Bloggers could lead field trips to local farms, he said. Or organize a visit to a local restaurant, where the chef could talk about eating sustainably.
“That’s what you all need to be focused on,” he told the crowd. “How can my words drive action?”
He briefly mentioned that food bloggers need to be a lot more transparent. He said it at the end of his talk and he didn’t have time to elaborate, but I’m assuming he meant in regard to whether we’ve received free meals or if we’ve been paid to endorse products. I heartily agree.
I admit that while I’m passionate about eating less processed food and enjoying the natural taste of a product (as opposed to something laden with corn syrup), I haven’t spent enough time in Mexico yet to understand exactly how to educate people here. Regarding transparency: The only free meal I’ve received in writing this blog was at El Bajío, as part of the Aromas y Sabores tour. The entire tour was free for all the invited journalists/photographers. But that doesn’t excuse it — I should’ve left an extra-large tip or at least mentioned in the post that the meal was free.
I’m curious about your thoughts. If you blog about food, do you see yourself taking a more activist turn? Do you think you’re being transparent enough? Do you accept free meals when you’re writing, and do you expect it?
Hi, Mija! Could you please add a share function (for twitter and facebook, etc.) I don’t write about food myself, but I like to read food blogs. I have a good friend who writes about food: http://www.shesimmers.com/. I wanted to tweet your blog so that she could see it and you guys could have a dialogue, but couldn’t find a button to do the tweet.
Hey there — I just added the button. Been meaning to do it, so thanks for the push. 🙂
That’s an interesting take that I hadn’t even thought of in reading your blog, but it does really make sense! I’ve recently gotten very into a Paleo style of eating…basically, eating things I could hunt/gather and cutting out all of the processed crap. I’ve been going to my local farmers markets…How great would it be if there was someone to show me how to do something with a spaghetti squash though while I was there though!
Do it Mija!! 😀 And don’t forget to write about it!
Transparency: Yes, I once accepted a free beer at Mariscos La Güera Campestre. Another time, we were given a free dab of guacamole and some totopos. ¡Espéreme momentito! At least twice I was given café de olla while waiting to arrange a group breakfast.
There are other reasons that it’s our favorite Pátzcuaro restaurant.
I won’t take up the subject of activism.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
I wish I was being offered free meals 🙂 If I did get something for free, I would disclose that. I think transparency is important.
As for advocacy – I would love for food companies to step up and not put so much unneeded junk into food, but I can’t pretend to be a health nut or I’d be a hypocrite. Too often, I still eat it, (while struggling to teach my kids to eat a balanced diet. Hard to undo all the years of hard-wiring in myself to make sure I don’t screw up my kids.)
Blogging in general, as fun as it is, I think there’s a responsibility to it. People read our words, whatever we’re writing about, food or otherwise, and right or wrong, they form opinions from the ideas we share. From those opinions, they often take action. It’s a little scary how much we affect a chain of events in that way.
I’ve blogged/tweeted a few times about my love for a Mexican candy called “Bubu Lubu”. It’s not exactly health food, okay, but I love those little suckers… Well, now I know a handful of people who sought them out after reading my blog and are now addicted to them, too. Granted, it’s not crack, (at least I don’t think there’s any in the marshmallow filling), but my power to influence really surprised me.
It’s something I keep in mind when I’m feeling a little too impulsive with the “publish” button.
Gracias Se
I was very inspired by this talk, myself. Yes, I am definitely heading somewhere in the activism department-though I’ll also be in school. Maybe the two activities can support each other. Hope so.
So far I have not received much of anything for free, but I agree about the transparency issue. For some reason it’s making me think of product placement in movies…
Thanks for the great, thought-provoking post, Lesley! I forgot about the “Obesity Boogaloo” crack that he made. Hilarious.
Hey Mija – just found your blog and this post really struck me. My boyfriend & I recently started a food blog. So far we’re not very far into the whole idea of blogging about eating and cooking, but we did have a conversation about a week ago about how it’s important to us to be bringing good things to the table (not meant to be punny) with it. Of course we want to be amusing & descriptive, but we realized it’s important that the food we write about and make actually brings people closer to their food in a positive way. I like Spurlock’s idea of local markets and field trips and while we hadn’t gotten that far, we were hoping to shift the focus from the traditional American attitude of eating to eat to eating to truly enjoy. And when you truly enjoy food you take time to prepare it, you take time to savor it, and you eat less and you eat healthier. I think all that stuff eventually leads towards shopping locally and while I’m no die hard local advocate or probably ever will be, I definitely agree that it’s important and also that people’s attitudes toward food need a dramatic shift.
Keep up the good writing. 🙂
Leave my computer? Get out into the streets? No, I don’t see myself doing that.
It’s complicated. As a foreigner living in Mexico, I don’t see myself as an activist. In my small town, most Mexicans are just trying to make ends meet and get enough food on the table. They are strong traditionalists and don’t take well to revamping their cooking ingredients or techniques. Of course there are exceptions, but this is the rule where I live.
My blog is my platform and I use it to educate my readers, I hope. My most recent article on my blog, Cooking in Mexico, is how to shop for sustainable seafood. I plan on more articles in the future on healthy eating, cooking, and purchasing. My blog is my platform.
Regarding transparency, I’m with Don C. I was once treated to a half roasted banana with crema in a restaurant. I didn’t disclose this in the review, as it was insignificant. A restaurant give me my meal gratis? Not here. 🙂
Kathleen
I’ve been tuning into your blog for several weeks. I love it! Mexico is very near and dear to my heart (my kiddos were both adopted from Mexico) and I love reading your impressions of it.
Re: transparency, I think it is critical to our work as food bloggers. Having been a newspaper journalist, I feel strongly that freebies should not be accepted. I have been offered free things, but have graciously declined, preferring to pay my own way and say what I want.
Re: becoming an activist, I do promote healthful, sustainable living on my blog. But, I don’t froth at the mouth about it. As mentioned by someone above, many people are just trying to get food on the table (both in Mexico and in the U.S.) and it feels rather elitist to say–no you can’t eat that! We do need to force the government’s hand more tho’–for instance, why is corn subsidized, but not carrots or broccoli?
Keep writing! I love your posts!
Elaine
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Elaine. And thanks for the kind words about the blog — that really means a lot to me. I’ve been a bit busy lately, but I should have some more posts up next week. Saludos!
When working three summer months in Lille, France on a technology transfer, we were privileged to be able to eat in the company cafeteria. It was a converted French Chalet. Every week day for lunch I had a huge pile of “Frit,” – seasoned french fries and an almost rare 6 oz steak draped over the top of the fries. And then while touring on the weekends, I would eat at McDonald’s or other fast food place. Those that complained that they had to many frit – were not understood by the French – and got more frit!
I was joined by some really serious beer drinkers – non for me. And we were shocked how much weight we ALL lost over three months – before returning to the US.