International Food Bloggers Conference 2016

 Shalom from Sacramento! For the third year in a row, I’ve made my annual pilgrimage to the International Food Bloggers Conference, during which I pal around with my ladyblogger friends, stuff myself with tasty foods, an attempt to restrain myself in the gift suite. I’m sadly Streusel-less again this year (she couldn’t make it anyway, and then there was some emergency with her* hamster, which apparently cost $100 in vet bills and I still haven’t heard the whole story). But I’m thrilled, as always, to get a weekend with my lovely Erica.

 

Anyway, let me fill you in on what I’ve been up to while I’m here (other than sweating like a mother, but you knew that anyway since I’m in Sacramento at the end of July…)

 

* important note: the hamster actually belongs to Streusel’s daughter, not Streusel herself. Or so she claims.

 

 

 

The conference moved to Sacramento this year – there is a focus on farm-to-fork eating – and with that, the conference also feels a bit different for me. My sense is that Foodista (who puts on these conferences) is constantly trying to shift to meet the needs of an ever-changing food blogging community. It’s nice to attend different types of workshops; certainly nothing has been close to repeated in the years that I’ve attended.

 

A big reason I attend IFBC is for the opportunity to meet other food bloggers, hear why and how they began blogging, and be inspired by the work of others. The blogging community is always friendly, and that’s proven true again this weekend as I’ve gotten to know Karlee from Olive and Artisan and been impressed (and inspired!) and how much she’s accomplished in her first year of blogging.

 

And, of course, there’s the food. Last night was the “Taste of Sacramento Expo” where we tasted some great local food.

 

My favorite food came from Mother, a local vegetarian restaurant. These little cups of tomato soup were amazing and really highlighted how good simple food can taste when you use fresh ingredients and try not to mess with it to much

 

 

There were also martinis, sponsored by Lindsay Olives. Similar to the tomato soup from Mother’s, I had more than one of these 🙂

 

 

We also snacked on some tacos, pizza, and chocolates – all in all, it was really really good food. I will acknowledge that, by the end of the evening, my belly was a bit confused by the potpourri of cuisines I’d ingested but it was nothing that some cold seltzer couldn’t solve.

 

This morning, Erica and I woke up early and went out in search of coffee. We happily stumbled on some locals who recommended Insight Coffee Roasters, and I picked myself up a delicious iced latte (once again, I’ll reiterate that it’s a billion degrees here – an icy drink at 8am tasted dreamy).

 

The coffee shop was beautiful, vaguely reminiscent of a yoga studio, no?

 

 

Tonight they’re shutting down a street and we’re having what looks to be a lovely dinner outside. A few more workshops tomorrow morning, then I head home to Seattle!

 

 

 

Posted on July 30, 2016
This entry was posted in travel and tagged blogger, conference, ifbc, sacramento.