SA Blog Awards Badge

http://website.sablogawards.com/2011/vote/voteforme/3955 Above lieth a badge of contention.

SA Blog Awards 2011 – Should you vote for Food and the Fabulous?

Well, hear me out before you roll your eyes, okay?

It’s taken me a week to put up this badge. I’ve bounced around the arguments in my head one hundred times. If you witnessed (or were involved in) the Blog Awards last year, you’ll remember two things distinctly, controversy and much unhappiness. Couldn’t have been fun for the winners either, knowing that the community upon whom you rely for support, was not impressed nor very supportive. This was before I started blogging myself and my questions were as follows:

  • ” Why be involved in something that causes so much bitterness?” – there were issues raised around procedure and voting amongst others and,
  • “Do you need a badge to validate your worth?”
The answers are quite obvious, don’t you think?


And then I started blogging, and every dedicated blogger will tell you, it’s bloody hard work! And it doesn’t pay the bills. Sure, attending the odd event and sponsored lunch is a treat, but you often steal time from a work day to do it and then have to figure out how to write about it afterward.

If like me, you’re working in the early hours of the morning after all the office admin is seen to, photo editing for a self-taught technophobe is no joke and it becomes very costly. Props? Lenses? Restaurant and food bills?

And now, I have put on the badge, with no hope of winning, but after a year of nurturing Food and the Fabulous I feel she’s worthy of some recognition. I also think the organizers have been through a steep learning curve, and while they could never please everybody, they’ve pulled up the socks and shone the shoes (we hope!).

What I like about this blog:

  • The design. An ode to Julia Child, I have put my heart, soul and a fair bit of money into designing Food and the Fabulous and the evolution never stops. Just ask the designers.
  • Content – I have tried to produce high quality recipes to encourage learning cooks, travel pieces to entice you and local and overseas restaurant and market reports that are honest. My content (written word and photos) is always varied.
  • I am independent. Any blogger would tell you, this is not easy as eventually, the $5 agents do come knocking and Lord knows it would be nice to pay for the coffee sometimes. I don’t advertise. If I mention a product, it’s because I believe in it. If it was gifted (rarely) and I feature it, chances are I will buy it for myself. I do it this way so when I give something a Food & the Fab stamp of approval, you can trust it.  This just works for me.
  • I’ve found ways to incorporate goodwill and the charities I work with, these activities that ultimately give my life meaning, in getting a loving food and wine community to use their voices to give back. This would have been less successful if it wasn’t for the blog.
  • Food and Football? Come on, at least that’s worthy of a second look.
  • Everyday, there is something new to learn. Who knew all those settings on my fancy camera existed! Who knew I’d spend hours looking for the word that’s-just-right and in the end, delete the paragraph? Who knew anyone would read this!?
There are plenty of reasons why Food and the Fabulous is not at her, well most fabulous. There are plenty of blogs more experienced and further down the line than this one. But that’s pretty encouraging to me. So much to learn!

If you’d like to vote for Food and the Fabulous, click on the vote button here:

SA Blog Awards Badge
Note, only one vote per category (I’m in the Food and Wine Blog category) and then you need to click on a link sent to your email address to validate your vote.
Voting closes on 9 November 2011.
*I will try to limit the “canvassing” to one tweet a day or less. My apologies in advance. *
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