The story behind the stories: my interview with the ForkYeahFoodies Instagram community

The best stories are… the ones left untold? 🤔 I have often been criticized by family for talking very little about myself on my blog – and this is a fair remark, to be sure. I love to let the food do the talking, and the stories work their magic upon the readers.

Sometimes, however, you have to let your own story do the talking and work its magic, right? 🙂 That’s exactly what I did recently, when I was approached for an interview by ForkYeahFoodies, a thriving Instagram community with a monthly digital magazine. I sat down (virtually, of course 🙂 ) with one of the ForkYeahFoodies admins to talk about myself, my blog, and my culinary philosophy and adventures in greater detail. Below is the ensuing interview:

Let’s start with your earliest memories of food as a child…What food did you grow up with and what was your favourite dish as a child?

My earliest food-related memories revolve around my parents eating bread and tomatoes with me by the side of the road during our trips in the countryside, in the summer. It is a memory I have showcased in several of my Instagram posts over the years, and it encapsulates values I hold dear: simplicity, authenticity, love of nature and of its generosity.

I had access to very little food growing up, and our daily menu was mostly composed of veggie-based soups and stews. My usual breakfast was bread and milk. A scrumptious treat my dad would make from time to time (whenever he had the ingredients) was chocolate pudding, with a secret recipe he learnt during the years he spent working for a local hotel. My dad passed away many years ago, and I didn’t get the chance to ask for the recipe. I have been trying to recapture the very particular flavor of that pudding. It is a work in progress.

How did your food blog come about?

My family and I moved from the UK to the US in 2010, and the first few years were years of readjustment – to the subtleties of the American culture and its diverse subcultures, to life in a large city, to a novel world of exciting foods and flavors. At some point we moved to a new place during extensive renovations. We didn’t have a stove for almost a year! I bought a panino press, which soon came in handy. We ate lots of panini during those renovations!

I started off my blog for 2 reasons: to share my “panini experiments” with others who may be interested, and to go back to writing during a period of numerous changes in my life. Storytelling became a means of putting my thoughts in order while looking for purpose during those times.

Your blog recently won an award, can you tell us more about that?

Thank you for asking! Chicago Loves Panini was named one of Chicago’s best food blogs by Toast, a cloud-based, all-in-one digital technology platform purpose-built for the restaurant community.

Toast’s recent blog post about their top 15 Chicago food blogs speaks highly of Chicago Loves Panini’s storytelling: “If you love all things recipes, events, and food trends, Chicago Loves Panini is the blog for you. Creator Michaela digs into the details of just about every lunch, dinner, and dessert topic there is – from recipes, to reviews, to Chicago events, and everything in between.”

I am honored to be featured in Toast’s list of 15 best Chicago food blogs, alongside famous names from the local blogosphere. As a keen storyteller, I have often wondered about my overall message, and about its usefulness and relatability. Toast’s inclusion represents an affirmation of the value of my storytelling efforts, and I am very humbled by the inclusion.

Your recently went to France to cover the Bocuse d’Or. Can you tell us how this came about and who were you covering it for?

I decided to attend Sirha Lyon – the world’s leading food service event with a prestigious history of celebrating gastronomic excellence – pretty much at the last minute, an extraordinary move on my part (I usually plan well in advance) I had been thinking of special ways to mark my 10 years of blogging, and Sirha Lyon seemed to showcase this celebratory spirit to perfection. Celebrating its own 40th anniversary in 2023, Sirha Lyon brought together nearly 210,000 professionals, and 4,700 exhibitors and brands. Over the course of 5 days (19-23 January 2023), 600 novelties/innovations were presented, and 81 masterclasses, competitions and round tables were held, including the World Pastry Cup and the Bocuse D’Or.

I covered this event for my blog.

Can you tell us a little more about what the Bocuse d’Or is?

Bocuse d’Or is the most rigorous international culinary competition in the world, and was started by Chef Paul Bocuse in 1987. It is held in Lyon, France, every other year, and it brings together competing teams of chefs from 24 countries. The Grand Finale, which takes place during Sirha Lyon, is the milestone of a cycle of 70 national and 4 continental selections undertaken over a period of two years. It is a spectacular event in terms of scope, mission, and gastronomic talent and creativity.

Were the other events you covered an extension or part of the Bocuse d’Or? (The World Pastry Cup, The French Bakery Cup etc.)

All of these events you mentioned, including the Bocuse d’Or, were part of the Sirha Lyon Expo. These were all individual national and international competitions in their own right, and they all took place during the Sirha Lyon Expo, between 19-23 January 2023.

It looked like it was crazy busy while you were there. Can you tell us how you planned your days to cover or was there a pre-set agenda?

I started planning my coverage after my media accreditation was approved, and soon enough I came to the conclusion that it might not be possible for me to cover all of the sections/talks/competitions on the Expo schedule. Then, on the first day I was there, I realized all of the trade shows I had attended before could not realistically be compared to Sirha Lyon. This Expo was huge! Having figured out that I might end up not covering everything on my list, I scaled it down even further. Sad to say I didn’t have the time to cover events such as the French National Cheesemongers’ Contest, the French Cezve/Ibrik Championship, or the Flexitarian Contest.

Did you get to sample the food? Did any one item stand out for you?

There was food I could not sample (at the various exhibitors’ stands and/or prepared during competitions), but there was also a lot of food I could sample. As you may have noticed from my Instagram posts covering the event, I was particularly impressed with the desserts. Some of the pastries I tried were out of this world! There were also great foods and beverages to try at the international pavilions – pastas at Italy’s pavilion, organic matcha at Japan’s pavilion, and my number one discovery, the almond coffee I sampled at Saudi Arabia’s pavilion. This creamy drink made of rice flour, sugar, almonds, cardamom, and milk was a revelation to me.

I would also like to highlight the exceptional organic delicacies I tried at the French regional stands, the chestnut ice cream at the Clément Faugier stand, the versatile gourmet vanilla pearls at the Prova Gourmet stand, and last but not least the high quality Valrhona chocolate (a prestigious name in the culinary world and a sponsor of the Bocuse d’Or, the International Catering Cup, the World Pastry Cup, and the French Baking Cup)

Curious to know if you felt that the winners from the different events lined up with who you thought the winning teams would be?

Looking back to the World Pastry Cup – which this year had 17 teams at the start, working for 10 hours to create 42 tasting desserts and 3 artistic pieces on the theme of climate change – I thought Italy was going to win again, after coming in first place 2 years prior, and on 2 other occasions. Their antelope made of chocolate and sugar was breathtakingly beautiful, a poetic joy to the eyes, and an affirmation of superb artistry.

In the end, Italy was third, France was second, and Japan won the gold with their creation, having finished second on the podium for the last 5 editions. The USA team, composed of Chefs François Behuet (chocolate), Jordan Snider (sugar), and Julie Eslinger (ice), placed 7^th.

Thinking about the Bocuse d’Or, I thought Sweden was going to win. Their monkfish platter – for which Sweden won a special prize, but not the Bocuse d’Or itself – looked spectacular! In the end, Denmark won the title, with Norway coming in second, Hungary third, and Sweden fourth. The USA team, composed on Head Chef Jeffery Hayashi, Commis Franco Fugel, and Head Coach Robert Sulatycky, placed 9^th.

Since I could not try the dishes prepared during these competitions, my own assessment relied on their overall visual appeal, as well as on the commentators’ live remarks.

Being Canadian, I am curious to know why the Canadian team won the socially responsible award?

Canada’s team, composed of Chefs Jacob Pelletier (chocolate), Patrick Bouilly (sugar), and Ross Baisas (ice) won the World Pastry Cup eco-responsible award for their commitment to environmentally conscious practices, including their impressive non-wasting of the products. There was a significant emphasis on social responsibility at Sirha Lyon this year, and the performance of the Canadian team stood out from this important perspective, among others.

Was this your first time traveling to France? If so, what were your impressions of the country?

Yes, it was. Even though my experience was limited timewise, I greatly appreciated the opportunity to reconnect with my “European roots.” I loved everything about Lyon: the food, the people, the apartment buildings (which reminded me of the apartment I grew up in), and the overall picturesque vibes of the place.

Equally important, I loved seeing the friendships and community spirit built around these culinary events. The same “faces” I had seen in archive footage of the Bocuse d’Or were in Lyon this year. While observing them in action, it occurred to me that these individuals were not just continuing Chef Bocuse’s legacy, but there was something else too, that was “binding” them together in the most meaningful of ways: they were, and they are, a family. This event is a wonderful tribute to Chef Bocuse’s influence in the realm of gastronomy, to his love for his profession, for Lyon, France, and the world.

Finally, when and where can our community read your coverage of these events?

Thank you for asking! The community is welcome to check out the series of articles I posted on my blog, one on Sirha Lyon more broadly, the other two on the World Pastry Cup and the Bocuse d’Or, more specifically. As always, I appreciate the ForkYeahFoodies community’s feedback and questions, and I look forward to sharing additional information. Thank you 🙂

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