Foodie Blogger Leaves an Important Lesson about Storytelling

Due to a scheduling conflict, I stumbled into a SXSWi panel featuring Seattle-based foodie blogger Molly Wizenberg who blogs, has her own book and, in 2009, opened her own restuarant with her husband.

While I myself am not a foodie blogger, I thought I still may take away something, if even minor, from the presentation since both Molly and I do talk about food to a certain capacity. To my surprise, she ended up conveying one of the most honest and humbling takeaways from all the panels I attended, and the tips are relevant to anyone, restauranteers included, who talk about food online.

The  main point Molly made was that you have to tell a story. Talking about food isn't really about the food itself, but rather about the story surrounding the food.

"Don't tell me what you had for breakfast," Molly noted, "tell me why it matters." She claimed the  biggest mistake food bloggers make it just talking about the food. If you mentioned you had a power bar for breakfast, for example, that's boring. But when you tie in that you ate it while walking across a bridge, took in smells, etc., it suddenly becomes so much more fascinating.

Stories about food have the power to bring back certain memories, and that's a great way to stimulate a reader's attention. Restaurants