{"id":21625,"date":"2011-06-13T10:31:19","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T08:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=21625"},"modified":"2011-06-14T11:17:27","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T09:17:27","slug":"honesty-and-independence-best-basis-of-blogging-food-and-wine-bloggers-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/honesty-and-independence-best-basis-of-blogging-food-and-wine-bloggers-told\/","title":{"rendered":"Honesty and independence best basis of blogging, food and wine bloggers told!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Bloggers must be honest and independent to have any credibility, the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club meeting was told by wine blogger Dion Martin at its meeting held at French Toast\u00a0Wine & Tapas Bar\u00a0last week.\u00a0\u00a0This was echoed by food blogger and restaurant design curator Neil Stemmet.<\/p>\n

Dion Martin writes The Travelling Vineyard Blog<\/a> as a sideline, being a print-on-demand publisher in his day job.\u00a0 A love for food in his family, a chef qualification he obtained via City and Guilds, a Cape Wine Academy Certificate, and a University of Stellenbosch Wine Evaluation\u00a0diploma,\u00a0led Dion to start his blog two years ago, so that he could document\u00a0his wine experiences.\u00a0 Dion mentioned that lawyer Robert Parker could be seen to have been the first blogger, in having published a weekly newspaper thirty years ago already, sharing his evaluation of the wines he had tasted.\u00a0\u00a0Dion has observed an increasing ‘noise’ in food blogging, and therefore one should find a point of difference with one’s blog:\u00a0 it could be humour, it could be its excellent photographs, or its ethics, in declaring when the blogger has received a complimentary product or meal.\u00a0 Few bloggers disclose freebies, he said.\u00a0\u00a0 When he was asked how he deals with freebies, Dion said he would accept them, but would not write about a wine in isolation.\u00a0 He might\u00a0write\u00a0a comparative review about a blind tasting he would do with the freebie wine against two others.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dion said that he is an\u00a0avid Twitter fan (@TVDionysus), but he\u00a0sees a lot of ‘soulless Tweeting”.\u00a0 He warned\u00a0that communication on a medium such as Twitter can be misinterpreted due to the loss in intonation, which one would have in spoken communication.\u00a0 He warned Tweeters to be careful in what they say, and attendee Dusan Jelic added that one should not ‘Drink and Tweet’.\u00a0\u00a0 Dion has seen people on Twitter follow groupings, reflecting a herd mentality.\u00a0\u00a0Twitter is a conduit to one’s blog.\u00a0 Twitter has a lot of ‘noise’ too, and he filters this ‘noise’ out via TweetDeck, in reading only the Tweets of a select number of persons he follows.\u00a0 Such a facility is available on HootSuite too.\u00a0 He is strict in unfollowing those that do not follow him.\u00a0 Dion said that he does not use Vlogging much yet, but is experimenting with it, as he recognises the value of YouTube videos in Google search optimisation.\u00a0\u00a0 He advised bloggers to not make the video longer than 30 seconds.\u00a0\u00a0 Dion does not use Facebook much, but recognises that it is powerful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dion brought along a selection of Shiraz wines, for the bloggers to taste: Rusty’s Red from McGregor, made by garagiste John Hargraeves and costing about R40; Rusticus is a Shiraz and Viognier blend from Robertson, costing about R80; Le Marquis de Beau Rond Syrah received the least favourable response; Simonsvlei Toffee Chunck Syrah was also not that highly rated; the Sutherland Shiraz from Elgin, costing about R90, received the most\u00a0most positive\u00a0response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Neil Stemmet writes ‘soutenpeper’ Blog<\/a>, the content all written in lower case, to\u00a0represent his humility and the blog’s simplicity,\u00a0and is in Afrikaans.\u00a0 He focuses on the food tradition of South Africa, and his book by the same title will be published in November, and will be launched at the Food Indaba, to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, and organised by Design Indaba’s Ravi Naidoo.\u00a0 Neil said that he has no formal training, but he sees himself as a teacher, in wanting to leave a legacy.\u00a0 He is a ‘survivor’, he says, and says that the more one gets stamped upon in a judgemental society, the more fuel one obtains.\u00a0He has been the interior curator of the Towerbosch restaurant at Knorhoek, and Cuvee at Simonsig.\u00a0 He received acclaim for his award-winning stand he curated for the BOS Tea House<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, and he did so with minimum budget, collaborating with a\u00a0 number of design suppliers, each of whom brought a display case representing their outlet.\u00a0 The walls were painted purple, and the food was served in large platters at the symbolic ‘altar’ table, explaining his interpretation of a reaction to religion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ‘soutenpeper’ name reflects Neil’s approach to food preparation, which is adding nothing more than salt and pepper to a leg of lamb.\u00a0 \u00a0It starts in obtaining one’s meat from a butcher one knows, and knowing from where he sources his meat.\u00a0 Neil started his food career with his restaurant Le Must\u00a0in Upington, which he opened in 1985, and still owns.\u00a0Here he once served Nelson Mandela.\u00a0\u00a0He keeps his food ‘hearty and simple’, serving it in large platters, and it is eaten with ‘great conversations’.\u00a0 Neil\u00a0started ‘soutenpeper’ on WordPress, and asked for help when he got stuck in his early days of blogging.\u00a0 The publishers approached him about the book after only three months of blogging.\u00a0He said of his growing reputation:”The more people write about me, the\u00a0more scared\u00a0I get”.\u00a0 He says it takes energy to live up to the coverage he receives, and he is always honest and sincere.\u00a0 He speaks his mind.\u00a0 He advised bloggers to\u00a0write what comes to mind, to be natural in what one writes, and “to trust one’s instinct and to not force it”.\u00a0 Do not shout, he advised, ‘speak quietly’.\u00a0 ‘Become more humble, the more success you have.\u00a0 It is not about you, but about the energy flowing through you.\u00a0 Do not write for who we think we should be, but for what you are. Always share knowledge, and you will get reward from it’, he concluded.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

French Toast Wine & Tapas Bar is jointly owned by Karen Visser and John Harrison, and opened last year. They generously hosted the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club meeting next to their cosy downstairs fireplace, serving bruschetta, as well as a surprise Chocolate Fondant.<\/p>\n

The next meetings of the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club take place as follows:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*\u00a0\u00a0 20 July : Hennie Coetzee and Maggie Mostert of Batonage Blog<\/span><\/strong>, at What\u2019s On Eatery<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 17\u00a0August:\u00a0 Nikki Dumas of Swirl Blog, <\/span><\/strong>and Matt Allisson of I\u2019m no\u00a0Jamie Oliver Blog,<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0at Den Anker, wines sponsored by Jordan wines<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 21 September:\u00a0\u00a0Chef Brad Ball of Bistro1682, <\/span><\/strong>and a <\/span><\/strong>wine speaker from Steenberg, <\/span><\/strong>at Steenberg<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a019 October:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Roger and Dawn Jorgensen of Jorgensen\u2019s Distillery, <\/span><\/strong>and Anthony Gird and Michael de Klerk from\u00a0Honest Chocolate<\/span><\/strong>, with\u00a0a chocolate and potstill brandy tasting and talk on blogging, at Haas Coffee on Rose Street.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 12 November: Saturday lunch visit to new Leopard\u2019s Leap <\/span><\/strong>tasting room and cookery school in Franschhoek <\/span><\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 E-mail: whalecot@iafrica.com<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage\u00a0 @FoodWineBlogClu Food & Wine Bloggers Club now on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloggers must be honest and independent to have any credibility, the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club meeting was told by wine blogger Dion Martin at its meeting held at French Toast\u00a0Wine & Tapas Bar\u00a0last week.\u00a0\u00a0This was echoed by food blogger and restaurant design curator Neil Stemmet. Dion Martin writes The Travelling Vineyard Blog as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[4795,3,124,266,21,19],"tags":[11650,11930,1591,11471,256,8427,32378,11652,1514,11832,977,11648,8484,11834,2381,4571,4796,11844,6266,8421,4338,11837,3816,7165,8140,11840,8423,7345,11841,11929,11931,7421,32392,3694,11833,11839,11838,230,11842,11647,11843,11649,11286,11835,5543,1587,11653,11654,32373,4804,11836],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t