Silvana De Soissons shares the journey of The Foodie Bugle from top website to print magazine.
In creating the very first print edition of The Foodie Bugle I decided to contact a number of food and drink writers, bloggers, producers, artists and farmers whom we had featured in the last two years, since the website at www.thefoodiebugle.com was created.
Many readers had contacted me in the past to say they wanted a print edition of all the features, reviews, articles, photos, interviews and essays we publish online, and so I decided to kick-start a collaborative project to bring this idea to light.
I was amazed at what a generous and kind community existed out there, really talented people offering their work to be part of this new venture. From photographers like Alyson Fennell, Lisa Barber, Tif Hunter, Pascale Cumberbatch, Sarah Maingot and Jason Ingram, to illustrators like Anna Koska, Beatrice Caillat and Annabel Lee, we were able to publish a really wide range of original and unique food and drink photographs and art work. This made all our articles about food and drink producers, writers, retailers and growers come to life and grab the attention, all printed in Britain, on organic, uncoated paper to make the magazine feel tactile and earthy.
Elisabeth Luard, an award winning food writer, unbeknownst to many of her readers, is also a very accomplished watercolour painter. About a year ago I went to visit her at her beautiful farmhouse in deepest, wildest West Wales, and she showed me the collection of paintings she had made for her new book, “A Cook’s Year in a Welsh Farmhouse”. From wildflowers to berries, produce from her vegetable garden, foraged mushrooms and fresh ingredients sourced from local markets and towns, Elisabeth spends a little time painting Mother Nature and all her bounty almost every day. She then uploads the images onto her Twitter stream and chats about her finds with her followers.
I thought it would be really interesting for our readers to enjoy her paintings on paper, and so I approached her to find out if she would allow me. She accepted, and so we went ahead. The results were really lovely, and many readers have commented on how pleased they were to see the paintings. Several readers have bought two copies: one to keep and one to tear out all the artwork and glue it to the wall.
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