To Food, Blogging & Friendships : The First Ever Indian Food Bloggers Meet 2014

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I’m sure most of you, at least those who are in India and on Facebook, have been seeing post and updates about the Indian Food Bloggers Meet (a.k.a. IFBMeet) at Bangalore on the 1st 2nd August. We are all quite excited about the event and really looking forward to meeting the food bloggers who will be there, some of whom are very good friends.

The idea behind the IFBMeet popped up somewhere in 2010/ 2011 during a routine conversation with a good friend and fellow food blogger, Arundati (Escapades). We knew there were a lot of food blogger based in India who lived across the country and felt it was a good idea to have them come together as a community, meet one another and recognise the people behind those food blogs.

That idea seemed a little ahead of its time at that point and kept bubbling on the back burner, coming out of the pot when it would get discussed, on and off over the next couple of years. Sometime in late 2013, the idea popped up once again during conversation, this time when Arundati was visiting Goa on a short vacation. She, another friend and food blogger based in Goa – Revati (Hungry Excited) and I were to meet for lunch.

So one warm afternoon, the three of us sat down to lunch under some coconut palms not far from a beautiful sandy Goan beach and decided it was finally time to put our idea down on paper. We chalked down an agenda of sorts, roped in a fourth friend and food blogger, Nandita (Saffron Trail), into our discussions and the IFBMeet was born.

The main idea behind a Meet of this kind was to bring together food bloggers from across India at one venue so that they could interact with like-minded people who enjoy food and blogging about it. We also wanted the occasion to go beyond an enjoyable meet-and-greet experience and make it one where food bloggers could also take back something in terms of knowledge connected with good food blogging practices.

Speaking for myself, being someone who didn’t even know where to start with something like this, I’ve been lucky to have three good friends and great organizers along with me and the going has been good so far.

A lot of people have come forward to join us by becoming sponsors at the Meet. We’re happy to be associated with the Aloft Hotels at Bangalore who are our venue partners and sponsor for the Meet.

Burrp! have come forward to be our main event sponsor. KitchenAid is another of our sponsors and they have arranged for a Masterclass by Chef Surjan Singh Jolly of the JW Marriott Bengaluru. HarperCollinsIndia is launching the newest cookbook, Spice Sorcery by Husna Rahaman, at the event and will also be giving away a copy of one of their cookbooks to every registered participant at the Meet.

Our other sponsors include Cremica, UrbanDazzle, Soulfull, Freedom Tree, Paper Boat Drinks, PicGravy, The Brigade Hospitality Group, and Bite Me Cupcakes.We have a lot of exciting sessions planned for the two days. Participants at the Meet can expect to sit in on sessions on topics including Food Styling by Deeba Rajpal, Food Writing by Rushina Ghildayal, Social Media for Food Bloggers by Nandita Iyer, and Taking Better Food Photographs by me. Please see the IFBMeet blog for details on the other sessions.

We also have a goodie bag packed with surprises that we will be giving away to all the food bloggers attending the Meet.

That’s not all, as we have a lot more in store. To find out what else is happening at the Indian Food Bloggers Meet, please follow us on the blog dedicated to the Meet, on Facebook and Twitter

Registrations for attending the All India Food Bloggers Meet close on the 15th of July, 2014 (that’s another two days left!), and there are a few spots still available. If you would like to join us at Bangalore, then hurry up and send us an e-mail. If there’s a place still available when you e-mail reaches us, we will see you at the Meet.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at Bangalore.