I was interviewed for a story about food blogging in this weekend’s food issue of STM (Sunday Times Magazine, 30 May 2010).
If you missed it or don’t live in Perth, you can download a copy below (thanks to the Sunday Times for supplying the PDFs):
STM article (low res) – I eat therefore I blog (PDF 175KB)
STM article (high res) – I eat therefore I blog (PDF 1MB)
The story also features profiles of several Perth food bloggers:
Abstract Gourmet, Wannabe Gourmand, Beaufort Street Blog and Tannic Teeth. We all share our three top eats around Perth. Congrats guys! :D
So, on Sunday morning Jac and I went to the supermarket to buy bacon for breakfast and pick up a few copies of the Sunday Times.
I’d had fun during the photo session at the Sunday Times studio and I knew pretty much what to expect of the published picture, but I usually cringe at pictures of myself and really couldn’t bear to look at it. :) Jac didn’t hesitate – she grabbed a copy of the magazine and flipped through the pages impatiently to find the article. She grinned at the photo and chuckled as she read. She said: “Hey, you talked about me too!” Of course, sweetheart – this blog would be nothing without you!
We made breakfast – French toast with bacon, all drizzled (and as I ate, rolled) in maple syrup. Jac fried the French toast to a buttery golden brown – I love those crinkly crisp brown edge bits of the French toast as well as the soft, custardy centre of the eggy bread. And the bacon… well, it was just its delicious fatty salty self. You know, just looking at this photo now, I’m thinking to myself: why didn’t I put the bacon between the two slices of bread and eat it like a bacon French toast sandwich? Next time, next time!
If you’ve discovered The Food Pornographer from reading the STM article, welcome! :D
If you’re a regular or long-time reader, or even a sporadic one, thank you – you guys are an important part of this blog and I really appreciate all your support.
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the cover photo is really fun! Congratulations TFP :)
Congratulations! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article and I’m proud to say that I’ve been reading your blog for a very long time! Keep going – I really love what you write (and photograph! XD)
Wei-Wei
A very cool article. Well written, an I would imagine, very accurate in reporting what you spoke about. And that photo is excellent. It sort of keeps your anonymity in a very creative way…
Well done!
Oh and: BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON, BACON … MUSHROOM MUSHROOM…
(I wonder if you get that mock reference! :-) )
LOVE the picture, TFP. It turned out wonderfully.
Loved the article TFP! Well done to you and your awesome blog. It’s the first place I come to when I boot up my laptop in the morning and you’ve definitely inspired a couple of food porn themed posts on my own baby blog. :-)
Fabulous article! and I love the photo :) I can relate to the comment about “dinner’s ready” & “got the camera?” there have been a few starved looks around my house lol
congratulations TFP!!
i have to admit that when i saw this article, i felt like i had won a little lottery prize.. cos ive been following your blog for quite awhile, and i had introduced my friends to TFP earlier than the newspapers! =P
your blog never fails to brighten my day(:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING IN ALL THE EFFORT INTO IT!! ure awesome(:
lol thats not your lips XD
Great picture and great article. You’re getting famous. Don’t forget us geeks who have loved you for a long time! ;) Very proud of you!
I didn’t actually read the article in the paper the other day, but my dad did. He was like, ‘Have you heard of this FOOD PORNOGRAPHER woman’ (very loud and suspicious of the name!). I was all, ‘yeh, we’re totally blog friends’. Hehe :P
Congrats, what awesome exposure. I thought the interview was really great, having now read it. I feel kind of… proud? I’ve been reading your blog for many years and will continue to do so for as long as you choose to keep it up :D
congratulations! Ever since I found your blog, I’ve been hooked :)
Aww well done on the article :)
Also, ” I’m thinking to myself: why didn’t I put the bacon between the two slices of bread and eat it like a bacon French toast sandwich? ” Hmm maybe because then some moron would start accusing you of stealing their ” recipe ” !
Joking aside, I would go for that, I’m an habitual of sandwicher of things, even things that patently were not originally meant to be sandwiched :P
From the Perth Sunday Times article: “She (Jac) doesn’t quite understand why strangers around the world would be so fascinated by what she cooks and what we eat…”
Lol! That’s understandable I suppose. You have a winning combination of *many* elements. For me the initial draw (besides being a fellow food lover) was your being in Perth. Years ago I’d seen a 2-hour documentary about Australia…which only mentioned Perth as a blurb and ended there! :-o I’d wanted the documakers to go in and show us that shimmering city in the camera’s distance. And you certainly do love food, both have large and interactive families; plus the discovery (for some of us) of multicultural dishes. For instance, I had no idea curry was so popular there.
Love your blog, TFP! Don’t change a thing. And next time beware of lipstick and nonpariel candies. ;-p
p.s.: That golden fantastic French Toast and bacon…that’s the culinary equivalent of a good orgasm. :-)
Yay TFP! I have questions though:
Did they really do that to your lips? Was it real candy??
Congrats on the article!!! It turned out so well!!!
I was so excited to see the article about you and your blog in STM on the weekend! Finally more proof for my fiancee that your site is awesome. Congratulations.
Great post as always TFP. Regards. :)
That picture just makes me SO hungry. Yes, you’ve hungrified me now.
I think food makes the world go round, one of my favorite things on Facebook is seeing what my friends are cooking. After cooking what seems like a million meals, it is so refreshing to see something new to try. As for Jac, her meals are beautifully prepared, people eat with their eyes first, and a beautiful presentation makes any meal better, so bravo to Jac for all the beautiful dishes she prepares!
Yay, go you!!! Great article and super great photo :)
We’ll have to throw you a blog birthday party in August. With a bacon cake.
Mmm, bacon cake… I’m not sure whether I’m disgusted or in love with the idea :P
Thanks, Conor. Oooh magic words: BACON CAKE O_O
erin, well if you want to join in the celebrations you will have to embrace the bacon cake! LOL
I loved the article, TFP! I was amazed by the stats they listed about your website traffic… you have so many readers! I was trying to recall how I stumbled upon your site, but I can’t remember… probably had a late night craving and was googling pics of food that I wanted to eat, haha.
Anyways, cheers to you and keep up the excellent blogging!
BTW I love your blog!
What a wonderful surprise opening up the Sunday times and seeing my favourite blogger!
Keep up the great work,I look forward to every post :)
Fantastic.. great article and wicked pic !
Thanks guys! You are all too kind! And thanks to the people who have taken the time to send me emails after reading STM – I promise I will respond as soon as I can.
Thank you, Elle! That’s the general consensus – most people I know (friends, family, workmates and you guys) love that cover pic! One of our managers loved it so much she had the magazine open to that page and propped up on her filing cabinet so that the first everyone who visited her office would see was… my big moonface!
Thanks, Wei-Wei. That’s the next thing I’ve been hearing from many readers (and I love it!) – my long-time readers feel really proud they’ve been reading all this time. Yes – you guys should feel proud – you have totally helped make the site what it is today!
Thanks Craig,
Yes, Sheryl-Lee, who interviewed me for this article did a great job. Most people I know (including Jac) thought it was an extremely well written and balanced article. Sheryl-Lee direct quoted me throughout, so yes, it was very accurate! Damn, I feel like I should know the reference – it reminds me of a couple of possibles and I’m not game to say…
Thanks, Dea. It was great fun posing. I had a good laugh the whole time.
Thank you, Sally! That gooey butterscotch pudding you posted recently had definite food porn value! And I love your food porn from the South West post.
Thanks Karen,
I am careful not to take too many photos at others’ expense! I’d be too unpopular if it was my fault everyone went hungry while watching their food go cold! :P
Cheers, xinyi.
Hahaha, good on you for spreading the word! :D I’m glad you enjoy the blog, thanks for all your kind words.
jetgirl,
CORRECT! Those are not my lips! :)
Thanks kathy,
Heheh, I’m not famous! :) How could I forget you guys? Without you, this blog would just be me talking to myself! :D
Thanks erin,
LOLOLOL, he’s right, he SHOULD be suspicious! (Not really!) I hope you said “Yeah, and she reads MY blog” Hahaha. Well, no plans to give up blogging so I hope you’ll be reading for a long time to come. :)
Cheers, Becky! I hope I can keep you hooked!
Thanks Greenlady,
Mwahahahahaha YES! Good old Patty. Ah, the memories… LOL. Yes, often when we eat bacon and eggs I will eat mine as bacon, eggs and toast. Jac will put her bacon and eggs in the toast to make a sandwich. She does that often with meals – I will eat mine minus any bread but she will load the bread up with the meat and the salad/veges and eat it as a sandwich.
Cindy,
Jac is still getting her head around the whole online thing – that it’s real people communicating with one another, just through different means than what she’s most comfortable with and used to (she likes the phone and still hand-writes letters – which I think it great!). I laughed at your comment “both have large and interactive families” – Jac’s family isn’t really that big – I just think when we get together we eat a lot so it gives the impression of a big family! :P I guess culinary equivalents of orgasms are entirely appropriate since we’re talking about food porn. :)
Charlene,
The lips in the photo are not mine – they are stunt double lips (stock photography, in fact). I did pose for the lips shot – we used sticky lip gloss and then I planted my face (well, my lips) into a plate of hundreds and thousands. They stuck on my lips very well but boy, did they go everywhere and make a mess! They started melting quite quickly and I ended up eating a lot of them as they fell into my mouth! But in the end – to cut long story short – they didn’t use the shots and went for the stock photo lips instead. The reporter who interviewed me did tell me beforehand so I wasn’t too surprised when I saw the picture. It’s all good!
Thanks, Lisa.
Cheers, Andreas!
Lauren,
Heheheh, cool. Hi Lauren’s fiance! *waves*
Sheryl-Lee,
(In Mr Burns voice) Excellent! :D
AZ,
Yes, so true about food making the world go round. I definitely live to eat so I agree with you wholeheartedly! Well, now that Jac knows she has an eager audience waiting to see what she cooks, she does try to cook meals that look good and will be worthy as food porn. :)
Conor – see reply at your comment above.
Megan,
Well, the stats may seem impressive, but they’re just a drop in the ocean as far as popular sites go! I’m really still what we call “small biccies”! :) Thanks, I plan to keep blogging, no plans to stop!
Cheers, Pinkie pie! I hoped it would be a nice surprise for some people! Even friends who knew there was going to be an article had no idea what the picture would be of (nor that it was a full-pager!) One of our friends who doesn’t really use email (so I hadn’t emailed her to tell her) wasn’t expecting anything as she read the magazine – she literally squealed with excitement when she saw the picture, quite startling her husband!
matthewd,
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Heh. Well the reference is corrupted from: http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/
How does that relate to bacon? Well I was originally going to just say BACON BACON BACON, and then that got the badger song going in my head. Sorry if you end up going to this site for weeks! :-)
Congratulations TFP! Thank you for your wonderful posts and awesome blog layout. I must say the mobile version is also very well done. I never have to wait to see a new post now! The article is wonderful and insightful. Stay hungry TFP and keep on blogging!
Thanks for posting a link to the article, TFP – really enjoyed reading it and your picture was really fun!
Well done TFP for the mention in the STM!
love the photo as well. Keep up the good work :)
That’s a good interview and it was fun to read! :)
Hi TFP.
I read your interview in STM recently. It was great! It got me onto your blog & now I follow you! I have a friend who loves food bloggers & never really understood why. That is until I checked it out for myself & now I am addicted.
I love food way too much for my own good – hence my recent decision to joing the gym! I am going to try your french toast & bacon sandwich this long w/e – so excited :)
I am also a Perth citizen. You should defs check out Xwray in Freo. It is opposite the Luna Cinemas. I have had the most amazing breakfast of my life there. Scarmbled free range eggs with feta & spinach on homemade bread with chorizo on the side- I almost died. Their coffees are also as good as they come. I have also had their breakfast panini & vegetarian panini.
For dinner they do tapas. I am ususally not a tapas fan so I was a little reluctant to have it at Xwray. I ended up having the beef sqewers that are cooked in tequilla and baby octopus in a lime & chilli marinate. OMFG! I have also has the best gin & tonic of my life there. It was gin that had been filtered through rose petals! It was served with a thin slice of cucumber. Amaaaaazing
I could go on & on about Xwray that is how much I love that place. Would be good to see what you think!
LOL at Craig! :D
Thanks, Jon!
The site works well on iPhones and other touch screen smartphones, but I need to get it working on other mobiles. That’s on my to-do list for sure. Don’t worry, I fully intend to keep on blogging. And I’m always hungry, that’s a given! :P
Cheers, Laura. I have lots of readers who aren’t from Perth and/or live overseas (and not everyone from Perth buys the Sunday Times), so I wanted to make sure everyone had the chance to read the article. :)
Thanks, Tannicteeth.
Alynna,
Cheers, glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks Farha,
Hope you enjoyed the French toast and bacon sandwich. :) Thanks for telling me about X-Wray. Scrambled eggs with feta and spinach sound great, and I like tapas! We don’t make it to Freo that often, but I’ll put it on our list of places to check out next time we’re in the vicinity.