Blog to Blog
A something-for-everyone site dishing out tips and wit.
Posted by: Allyson Marrs on Jun 28, 2011 at 01:49PM
“I love every kind of food,” says Becky Selengut. “I even love garlic, but it hates me.”
Photo Courtesy: Clare Barboza
Here’s the deal with the Seattle Food Blog Chain: Nosh Pit spotlights a Seattle food blogger, and then asks that blogger to point us in the direction of another food blogger. Last week we talked to snarky Baketard Marc Schermerhorn, he passed us on to local chef and sustainable seafood advocate Becky Selengut. (Schermerhorn on Selengut: “She’s one of my best friends but my nemesis on Twitter. She’s extremely talented.”)
About the blogger Becky Selengut is a chef who’s allergic to garlic. She’s worked in restaurants for more than ten years, including the The Herbfarm and La Medusa, and was less than compassionate for those who made alterations to the menu crying food allergy. “Someone would say they’re allergic to dairy and make a big stink, and then they’re stuffing their pie hole with cheese. Ya right, it’s an allergy,” she says. “But now that I’m on the other side, I really want the cook to take it seriously.”
Garlic notwithstanding, Selengut will eat just about anything. “Food is how I think of the world. My brain is hardwired to see if I can eat that thing. I’m like my Labrador: ‘can I eat that?’ all the time” she says. “I don’t know how food has inspired me; it just is me.”
Mini-review of the blog Tips, tricks, and narratives round out Chef Reinvented. Selengut is a private chef, a cookbook writer, and a cooking class instructor—all of which are reflected in the blog. “It’s about how we all reinvent ourselves all the time to do new things. I want it to be a food/humor blog,” she says. Posts include challenging cooking techniques, there’s a whole sous vide series with a familiar British face, sustainable food lessons, travel narratives complete with hilarious photo captions (check out her trip to Paris), and even event listings.
Level of commitment One hour each week. “I like to think that I go for the quality and not quantity model of blogging,” she says.
Randomly selected quote “The French are skinny and French pigeons are kind of chunky. Americans are kind of chunky (that’s an understatement) and our pigeons are lean. Parisians walk an awful lot and they walk to their favorite boulangeries to pick up their favorite baguettes. They are loyal patrons. They walk all over Paris eating their croissant and baguette, flaky bits of bread cascading from their lips into the mouths of waiting pigeons who fatten themselves on the buttery flakes (not good for a bird’s tender heart) and then croak from heart disease right at my feet.”
Bookmark if Your food interests are more comprehensive than specific. Or, you’re an older gentleman. “Mostly dads [read my blog]. Like my dad,” says Selengut. “It’s my family, my friends, and maybe twenty fans. Or people who like stories and humor.”
What you don’t know At the age of eight, Selengut attempted a sophisticated meal that she saw on TV: mushrooms on toast points. “We didn’t have any mushrooms that were fresh, so I found the canned mushrooms. I dump the mushrooms in the pan with the water. We didn’t have any good bread since it’s like 1978, so I took wonder bread, didn’t toast it, and poured the soggy canned mushrooms over it. It sat for like an hour, then my dad got home from work and I presented the dish.”
Advice for aspiring food bloggers “I’m not a model blogger,” she admits referring to the infrequency with which she posts. “But people do come to expect a certain thing from you. My thing with my blog is inconsistency, so I keep that consistent.”
Next week: a food dork who is also rather dashing. Does it get any better than that?
Add a Comment »
Tags:
DIY cooking,
Cookbooks,
Cooking,
Food Community,
Seattle Food Bloggers,
Seattle Food Blog Chain
0 Comments
