9 tips to make your food post interesting
Recently I’ve received an increasing number of requests to guest-post on my site, which makes me ecstatic, but it also sets me in a difficult position to evaluate what is interesting. Of the millions of food blogs out there, what makes yours interesting? It’s you. Your voice, your emotions and your own experience with the food can set your post miles above a recipe that I can find just 0.2 seconds after I google its name. I’m no professional blogger, but I’ve read a fair share of food blogs, and from the ones that I keep returning to, I’ve learned and formed my own set of guidelines on how to write a post (which I try to follow, sometimes more successful than others).
In general, recipe posts have more room for personal stories, and they also comprise the most common type of food blogs (small sample: of the top 50 food blogs on Delish, 43 are recipes), so these guidelines are more geared toward recipe blogging than reviews. I’m gonna skip the photos, although they’re important, they’re the varnish and the writing is the wood.
1. Write statements with specific details, geographically and historically. Let’s say you want to write about grilled catfish. You need an opening sentence. Your first thought is “When it comes to catfish, there are many American dishes. They are mouthwatering and delicious.” These two sentences sound choppy and unimpressive, so you can remodel them into “Our American cuisine has no shortage of mouth-watering dishes with catfish, such as Catfish Tuscany and Catfish Gumbo.” Then you give more background details to it: in which regions in America are these dishes most common, who usually like them; or give a more personal touch: do you have a childhood story related to one of these catfish dishes, how did you come to like catfish or fish in general, etc.
2. Be confident with your opinions, but respect your readers. You’re not trying to give a lecture, you’re just telling a story. Sometimes a confident statement may sound a little bit too direct and confrontational. For example, “you should eat catfish because it is healthy” sounds like an order, but softening it to “my mother always tells me to eat catfish because it is healthy” offers not only consideration but also a personal story and a third opinion (your mom’s), which gently boosts the credibility of your statement. The use of “you” should be minimal, unless you want to make it sound like a conversation, which you should.
3. Give reasons. Why is catfish good for health? Include scientific facts if possible. Include your grandmother’s experience is even better: 1. It’s personal; 2. It’s most likely universal, somehow all grandmothers think the same; 3. It’s proven with time.
4. Tell a story. How did you come up with this recipe? How is your recipe different from other recipes of grilled catfish? Basically, what makes your recipe unique? What have you discovered while making this recipe, using this product, or eating this dish? James Boo and his co-writers on The Eaten Path tell some of the best stories.
5. How flexible is your recipe? Can I use brown rice instead of basmati rice, pork bone instead of beef bone, or blueberries instead of raisins? For a review, how adaptable is the dish or the product? Can it be eaten any time of the day, any season of the year? What kind of beverage would it go well with? What changes can/should be made if I want to make it for my grandmother’s cousin who has dentures and is fond of duck tongue?
6. Tell us about the result. What do you think about your recipe after you eat it? Is it perfect? Did it give you a split second of enlightenment? Is there anything you should have done differently or is there anything you would like to experiment next time you make it? Will you make it again? Did your best invention give you the worst stomachache the following day? Did anyone beside you eat it, if so, what did they think? The answers to these questions add personality to your post and complete your story.
7. Google is your best friend. And like with your best human friend, you should prepare to spend a lot of time with Google. There are already a lot of information out there, simply reciting the first link you find is not going to make your post any better than that link. What the reader needs is all of that information in one place, so that they can quickly go back and look up for it as needed. I spent 2 days browsing through 50 pages of articles on the ash sticky rice dumpling (bánh ú tro), most are copies of one another, to get enough information for my post. The more inclusive your post is, the more useful it is for the reader. Your reader is spending their valuable time to read your post, so you have to invest your time to research before you write.
Also make sure to cite your sources. Citation doesn’t take away your expertise, it proves it.
8. Be funny. This point is always mentioned in every blogging to-do list, and it’s the hardest point to follow. How can you be funny? I try, but I don’t know if I’ve ever succeeded because nobody has ever told me that I’m funny. But here’s a trick I’ve learned from noodlepie: you can be funny by referencing funny things. Use the built-in links to your advantage. Those who bother to click on them, get the hidden jokes.
9. Be open about yourself. Be personal. If you don’t want the world to know about you, maybe you should set your blog private, or blog in your head. Besides, the world is not out to get you, unless you’re a serial killer on Interpol‘s wanted list who also enjoys seeking out the most authentic pad thai in the States, in which case you probably shouldn’t blog about where you just had lunch… (or maybe you should?)
To sum it up, a good blogging tone is confident, respectful and open. Content-wise, be informative. Ask yourself while writing: have I learned something new? If you don’t learn anything new while writing your post, that means you haven’t done enough research and your post is useless. Even if you think of the entire post all by yourself in one go, there are always numbers and statistics that you can add to bolster your arguments, or fun facts to make your baked potato not so trivial, or new words that you procure from thesaurus.com to avoid repeating yourself. If you learn something new while writing your post, chances are your readers will learn something new from your post, and that newly acquired knowledge will prompt them to think of your blog as a valuable source, and they will come back.
This post was written after an allnighter. Now the author has learned what her third alarm, which she always sleeps through, sounds like.
I think this website holds some really wonderful info for everyone :D. “A friend might well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
1I am glad to be a visitant of this everlasting blog! , thankyou for this rare information! .
2Some truly nice and utilitarian info on this site, too I conceive the design holds wonderful features.
3naturally like your web site however you need to test the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to inform the reality then again I’ll certainly come back again.
4Great blog right here! Also your website quite a bit up fast! What host are you the usage of? Can I get your associate hyperlink on your host? I want my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol
5You are a very intelligent individual!
6Pretty! This was a really wonderful post. Thank you for your provided information.
7Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your site in internet explorer, would check this… IE still is the market leader and a big portion of people will miss your fantastic writing because of this problem.
8WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
9Wow! This can be one particular of the most useful blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Excellent. I’m also a specialist in this topic therefore I can understand your hard work.
10Thanks for any other fantastic article. Where else may just anyone get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation subsequent week, and I am on the search for such information.
11I think this is among the such a lot important info for me. And i am happy studying your article. However wanna commentary on few normal issues, The site style is wonderful, the articles is truly nice :D. Excellent activity, cheers
12Very interesting details you have remarked, thanks for posting. “Brass bands are all very well in their place – outdoors and several miles away.” by Sir Thomas Beecham.
13Really wonderful info can be found on weblog.
14Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
15Wow, wonderful blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make running a blog glance easy. The overall look of your site is great, let alone the content material!
16I’ll immediately seize your rss as I can not to find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me recognize in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
17Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Many thanks
18I got what you mean , thankyou for putting up.Woh I am pleased to find this website through google.
19Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the problem solved soon. Cheers
20It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
21Dead pent articles, Really enjoyed looking at.
22Thank you, I have just been looking for information about this topic for a while and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered till now. However, what about the conclusion? Are you positive concerning the supply?
23I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
24I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…
25Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
26Hey this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
27he blog was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Thanks
28Superb blog! Do you have any hints for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any tips? Thank you!
29It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
30Howdy! I simply would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great information you might have here on this post. I will likely be coming again to your blog for extra soon.
31Good day very cool site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally…I am glad to seek out a lot of useful information here in the submit, we want develop extra strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
32There’s noticeably a bundle to learn about this. I assume you made certain good factors in features also.
33Hello, Neat post. There’s an issue together with your site in internet explorer, could check this?K IE nonetheless is the marketplace leader and a big component of other people will miss your great writing because of this problem.
34I like what you guys are up also. Such clever work and reporting! Carry on the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my site 🙂
35Its wonderful as your other posts : D, thankyou for posting. “Talent does what it can genius does what it must.” by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.
36Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
37Really nice design and style and superb written content, absolutely nothing else we require :D.
38Appreciate it for helping out, good info .
39I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
40Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and all. Nevertheless think about if you added some great graphics or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this site could certainly be one of the greatest in its field. Fantastic blog!
41I discovered your weblog site on google and check just a few of your early posts. Continue to maintain up the excellent operate. I simply additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Looking for ahead to studying extra from you in a while!…
42At this time it looks like Movable Type is the preferred blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
43Right now it sounds like WordPress is the preferred blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
44I simply needed to thank you so much yet again. I am not sure the things I might have tried without the pointers shown by you relating to such industry. This has been a frustrating crisis in my position, but seeing a expert way you resolved that forced me to jump over contentment. Extremely thankful for this assistance and thus sincerely hope you find out what an amazing job your are providing training people with the aid of a web site. I’m certain you have never come across any of us.
45I genuinely enjoy reading through on this website , it has got superb content. “A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.” by Samuel Johnson.
46I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
47I am curious to find out what blog platform you have been utilizing? I’m having some minor security issues with my latest website and I’d like to find something more risk-free. Do you have any solutions?
48There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain nice points in features also.
49Good, I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs and related information ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, web site theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Excellent task.
50