The 1st Mumbai Food Blogger's meetup [and Nonchalantly Press(ing) the Black Area(s)]

Yesterday was perhaps a landmark day in the history of Food Blogging in Mumbai, 20 food bloggers from the Mumbai Food Bloggers group (on FB) and a guest food blogger from Delhi got together to discuss issues related to food blogging and to generally meet up and have a good time. Only time will really tell how important this event was. I personally think we'll be looking back at this as either as yet another good idea that didn't pan out or as the beginning of a damn good thing. 

The event was spearheaded by Kalyan Karmakar and he set up the venue too. The venue was the Dining Room at the Smokehouse Deli (SHD) at Ambedkar Rd, Bandra. We were meant to meet from 4 to 7pm but as usual the meeting went on a bit and we only wrapped up at half past seven.

Kalyan took over the post of MC and kicked off the meet with a round of introductions optimistically thinking it would take half an hour ... what started of was a very enlightening introduction to the various members, their blogs and their personalities ... and ended up taking an hour and a half!


                                                                                 

We took a small break for some really yummy snacks that the SHD folks had put together for us - really nice slices of beef 'n' mustard, pulled chicken, veg and cheese sandwiches, a really nice corn mushroom cheese and chicken pie, and, a veg and mayo disk. For our Vegan member they taken special care to make sandwiches and a truly awesome mushroom crostini (sans cheese).

The serious discussion started thereafter. There were a number of issues discussed and there were a surprising number of solutions readily on offer by senior bloggers like Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal, Nikhil Merchant, Kalyan Karmakar and Rhea Mitra-Dalal. An interesting thing that came of the discussions was that many of the bloggers wanted serios help in understanding and implementing SEO; in fine tuning their blogs i.e. a Dummies Guide to Blogger or Wordpress; and in strengthening their photography skills. The outcome of this was a decision to start a series of mini-workshops to address these issues. Either by fellow bloggers who were really good at this or by professionals.


                                       

The members at the meet also talked in great detail of a dark area in blogging that has been on the minds of many bloggers as of late - the lack of blogging ethics amongst some newer bloggers in the recent past. This dark area was discussed in detail and in a rather mature and almost fatalistic manner. The interesting outcome of this debate was a possible group dialogue on 'blogger ethic' in the near future. 

The meet finally came to an end with a decision to meet up on a regular basis every three months with a specific topic in mind and to enlarge the scope of the meeting by roping in like minded bloggers. 

A very satisfying end to a lovely meeting with a group pic rounded up the evening. 

(Pic courtesy Kalyan Karmakar via Mumbai Food Bloggers [FB Group] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153087014810130&set=gm.784663378263073&type=1&theater)

The Attendees List: 

The Sassy Fork, The Nonchalant Gourmand, Magic Marinade, Gastronomic Flight, EuphoRhea, Tongue Ticklers, Follow the Eaten Path, Follow my Recipe, My Tasty Curry, Papad Chai, Yumsilicious Bakes, A Perfect Fusion, To The T, Falling for Food, Finely Chopped, Chatore Diaries, Sizzle and Drizzle, Bombay Foodie, and, Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal

Our Guest:
Rekha Kakkar of www.mytastycurry.com