This past Friday, Communications Officer Elylse Ferland posted an interview of foodiePrints' team on Chicken Feeds, "the blog for the Chicken Farmers of Canada."

Food Blogger Profile: foodiePrints
We last met the Chicken Farmers and Ryan Anderson (who invited us to do the interview) at an Ottawa food blogger event at the Urban Element (424 Parkdale Avenue). It featured Ottawa Citizen food editor, Ron Eade.

Ours is Chicken Feeds' third food blogger profile, a seemingly monthly occurrence. The first, blogger (unsweetened.ca and CEOT blog) and author of Cheap Eats Ottawa/Toronto, Alexa Clark (@alexaclark), in January. The second, fellow Ottawa food blogger, Wing King (@lordofthewings) of the Lord of the Wings blog in February.

That said, we are very honoured to be profiled with such great food bloggers. We frequent the Lord of the Wings blog and I carry the most recent edition of Cheap Eats Ottawa with me in my knapsack.

Thanks to Anderson and Ferland for choosing to include us.

Our transcript of the interview follows after the jump.

Particulars:
Urban Element
424 Parkdale Avenue
(613 722-0885

Transcript:
> When did you first start writing about food, and what made you decide
> to start a blog?

Don: I started the blog in December 2006 because I needed a way to share
a biscotti recipe with colleagues. I made a batch for a
directorate-wise Christmas pot luck one year. It was such a hit
developers from several teams, several managers, and a director tracked
down who made the biscotti. After I forwarded the fifth e-mail, I
decided to create a blog to share recipes.

> You take a lot of photos of restaurants and events you go to. Has a
> restaurant owner ever asked you not to photograph their food?

Jenn: Though we have never had anyone ask us not to take pictures, we
have received some funny looks. We do ask permission and restaurant
owners are often more than happy to allow us to take pictures. In fact,
at one particular restaurant, the waiter encouraged us to take as many
pictures as we wanted and told us it would make the kitchen very happy.

> Has blogging about food changed the way you cook, eat or experience
> food?

Don: foodiePrints is meant to be two things, a cook's notebook and a
place to encourage discussion about all things food. It is however,
Ottawa-centric, as we want to encourage others to see our city as a
great food destination.

Don: Has blogging changed the way we cook? To some extent yes. We find
contributing posts to the blogosphere has us breaking down dishes and
methods. Documenting how we make something forces us to put more
thought, especially forethought, into cooking.

Jenn: I do have to admit though, I am horrible at documenting the dishes
that I make. I grew up learning to cook by watching my mother and
grandparents. I cook purely by instinct and taste. I eyeball the
amount of spices and liquids needed for each dish. Since we began
blogging, I make an effort to measure some things, but still find it
challenging.

Don: Has blogging changed the way we eat or experience food?
Participating in the blogosphere is two-way. We have learned so much
from other bloggers about what we eat, where food comes from, and what
others think about food. Do we blog about everything we eat? No. The
camera doesn't come with us to every restaurant.

> Do you cook at home regularly?

Jenn: Yes, we do. In fact, Don feels strongly that food bloggers should
cook or, at least, spend time in the kitchen with someone who cooks. By
learning basic culinary skills one will have a better appreciation of
the preparation, skill, and effort chefs and their cooks put into making
a dish. For me, cooking is my creative outlet. I love cooking for my
friends and family, especially for Don. I enjoy making my own
interpretations of foods I grew up eating and attempting new dishes,
everything from scratch.

> If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would
> it be?

Jenn: OK, this is an easy one for me to answer. Rice! It's my staple
food. Rice noodles, steamed rice, sticky rice, that all counts as one
food! Right? Now this is one cruel question for Don...

Don: Asking a food blogger to pick one food is somewhat difficult. We
write about the many splendours of flavour and texture that come from
many dishes.

Don: If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be
potatoes. There are so many varieties of potatoes (farmed, heirloom,
sweet or otherwise) around the world. As Jenn and I discovered earlier
this month, so many dishes can be made from them: cakes, gnocchi,
noodles, puddings, crisps...

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