Akvamariini’s food concepts 

Etusivu › The food blogger field in Europe and the United States

The food blogger field in Europe and the United States

A survey by Akvamariini Porter Novelli

Akvamariini Porter Novelli communications consultancy, a leading expert in product launch communications, organised a completely new type of event in Finland: a meeting for food bloggers. In the Food for Trendsetters event that was took place on 11 May, the food industry, electronic commerce industry, and the kitchen tools industry gave presentations to bloggers, containing introductions of new products and up to the minute culinary themes.

The event was opened by Sara La Fountain, the multi-talented culinary culture expert, who shared some news about the hottest food trends. The evening continued with company presentations and food tastings. Master of Wine Tuomas Meriluoto talked about environmental and responsibility issues within the wine industry.

All in all, the event brought together tens of most interesting bloggers, with Finnish and international companies participating. The feedback both from the bloggers and the participants was very positive.

Review of the international food blogger scene

- Akvamariini Porter Novelli conducted the survey through its network

Communications consultancy Akvamariini studied the current food blogging trends in over 10 countries with the help of its Porter Novelli network. Akvamariini has a thorough knowledge of the food industry communications field in Finland, and also the other global Porter Novelli offices are strongly involved in communications in the food industry. This time, the survey mapped the food blog phenomenon in Europe and the United States.

The food blog scene is growing and becoming increasingly diverse

The number of active food blogs varies greatly in each country from dozens of blogs in Austria and the Netherlands to several hundreds of blogs in the United States. Finland ranks rather high in an international comparison - in relation to the relatively small population, the food blog scene in Finland is very versatile and extensive. The biggest food blogging countries in Europe are France, Spain, and the UK. Also in Sweden the food trend is constantly growing along with popular cooking shows, such as Halv åtta hos mig, which is the Swedish version of Come Dine With Me, and the Swedish version of Masterchef, which have inspired many lifestyle bloggers to take an interest in food and to transform their blogs into food blogs.

During the past five years, food blogging has become increasingly popular in Western countries. This strong development continues, although there are some variations between the countries. In the biggest food blogging countries, the major trend at the moment is the emergence of specialised blogs. In other words, it is becoming more and more common that blogs concentrate on one particular theme or issue, such as vegetarian food, local food, slow food, fast food, or baking, for example. Naturally the large population base in these countries has also influenced the development of the food blog field.

In some countries, the specialising trend has gone even further: in France, for instance, there are popular blogs dedicated to making cup cakes only while in Germany, there are blogs that specialise in bread. In the Netherlands, one of the most popular food blogs is Foodlog (http://www.foodlog.nl/) which concentrates on ethical and transparency-related aspects of the origin of food. One form of food blogging in many countries is focussing only on restaurant reviews.

Bloggers as trendsetters

As blogs have more and more readers, their food topics will become trends also in people's homes. When a popular food blogger writes about their favourite product, it will run out of the shops, and the blogger's favourite restaurant soon becomes the favourite restaurant of quite a few others as well. In some countries, blogs have managed to create actual trends.

In the United States, many bloggers have wished in the past to start their own restaurants as the popularity of their blogs has increased, but the financial investments involved would have been ultimately too great. This is why the bloggers have invented the Food Truck concept that has become a huge phenomenon: Food Trucks are vans and lorries transformed and tuned into mobile kitchens, from which the bloggers sell food. Food Trucks have quickly become very popular, particularly in New York, where they are in abundance and their location can be followed on Twitter. Each Food Truck is specialised in something different, which can range from tacos and Belgian waffles to cup cakes.

The reputation of Brooklyn as the new gourmet district of New York is largely due to the bloggers. In the UK, the Pop Up restaurant movement was created around food blogs. Furthermore, food blogs have triggered a variety of campaigns and movements, such as the extremely popular, and now international, Meat Free Monday movement (http://www.meatfreemondays.co.uk/).

From amateurs to professionals, from a hobby to a profession

In Western countries, most bloggers are amateur chefs that simply love food, but more and more professionals are now getting into blogging. Top chefs and bakers, food journalists and food specialists are all now blogging too. In the United States, food journalists often blog alongside their actual work in order to support it and to be better able to comment on any given topic in more detail than in the traditional print media, and often with a more radical approach. In France, Anne-Sophie Pic, a chef with three Michelin stars and writer of several cookbooks, writes a popular food blog under her name (<http://blog.pic-valence.com/), and pastry chef Christophe Michalak keeps the Passions Gourmandes de Christophe Michalak blog (http://www.amabilia.com/blogs/passionsgourmandes/). In Belgium, the Flemish Foodies blog (http://www.flemishfoodies.be/) was born as a cooperative effort by several top chefs.

In all of these countries, some blogs will move from being an amateur site to being more professional as the number of readers increases. During the past couple of years, many countries have witnessed the transformation of food blogs that were started as a hobby into professional blog companies. In some blogs in the United States, such as Serious Eats (http://www.seriouseats.com/), an entire restaurant staff writes about the different aspects of food and cooking. In Spain, Marta Fernandez, a food journalist of a leading financial newspaper, Expansion, quit her job at the newspaper in order to focus full-time on her food blog (http://www.expansion.com/blogs/gastroeconomia/), and in Germany, some food bloggers have published cookbooks. The growing popularity and professionalisation of blogs increase the influence of bloggers as well as their significance as trendsetters, which, in turn, increase the value of the blogs as a food industry medium.

Commercialism divides the field

Globally speaking, the media value of blogs is increasing, which means that blogs have become increasingly commercial. Advertisers are interested in the media space offered by blogs, and some blogs do feature advertisements. Advertising and commercialism seems to be divided fairly similarly in all Western countries: some blogs are openly commercial and sell advertising space, others wish to remain free of advertising. Bloggers receive sample products nearly everywhere in Europe and in the United States. As regards sample products, blogs are equally transparent about their origin in all countries: the bloggers write about receiving samples and comment on them openly. Receiving sample products and cooperation between blogs and brands are more popular in all Western countries than direct marketing and advertisements.

In most countries bloggers network in the same way they do in Finland. Bloggers may, for instance, be a part of an online community, organise meetings between themselves, and participate in events organised for them. In the UK, food bloggers have even organised the UK Food Bloggers Association (http://www.ukfba.co.uk/). In Hungary, food bloggers organise a charity auction each year, auctioning gourmet cookies. In addition, special events, such as the Le Menu de Cannes, arranged in France by Electrolux in connection with the Cannes Film Festival, are organised for bloggers. In the event, two teams made up from fashion, design and food bloggers took part in a menu challenge. In many countries, the increased media value of blogs has led to the key bloggers being invited to food industry press conferences with food journalists.

Rising interest and influence

Summing up, it can be said that the interest in food blogs and blogging seems to be here to stay - the Internet has provided everyone the opportunity for visibility also in the food industry, and the public always finds its favourite among the supply. It is beneficial for all food lovers that an active and innovative blogger scene keeps introducing new tastes and all kinds of food-related topics at a constantly increasing pace.

The survey was conducted for a food blogger event organised by Akvamariini Porter Novelli. The Food for Trendsetters event for food bloggers and the food industry was organised in Helsinki on 11 May 2011.  

The most popular food blogs in each country:

Austria


Belgium


Denmark


France


Germany


The Netherlands


Hungary


Russia


Spain


Sweden


UK


USA