Food Camp 2014

Last Saturday, I was beyond excited to attend my first Food Camp in Vienna. For all of you who don’t know what the Foodcamp is: It is the biggest food blogger conference of the german-speaking countries, organized by the Coolinary Society aka Dani Terbu & Nina Mohimi.

I was so excited to participate that I didn’t sleep much. I realized the day before around midnight that my SD card was full and that I hadn’t transferred the pictures to my computer… Once I was finally able to go to bed at around 3 a.m. I couldn’t sleep as I was just too nervous and excited for the upcoming day. Well, apparently I’m not the well organized and prepared blogger I would like to be, yet!

Saturday morning came and I made my way to the Palais Sans Souci. I registered and received my buttons for the day and voucher for my goodie bag (later on more on that) and was immediately welcomed with a barista bar (sponsored by Meinl Kaffee) and of course food!

We started with a true breakfast of champions with everything the (organic) heart desires, thanks to Ja! Natürlich and Yoja. I enjoyed meeting some fellow bloggers and finally being able to put a face to some of the blogs :)

Feeling strengthened with a yummy breakfast/brunch in my tummy, it was time to decide which sessions to attend. There were so many and I would have loved to attend all of them, but that would have been impossible!

So first on the list was a session about Alpenlachs. It was interesting to hear about the sustainable farming of fish in Austria.

Fun fact about ‘Alpenlachs’ (translated as salmon from the Alps): It isn’t really a fish type but just the name of the company.

Food blogger in their natural habitat. 

 

The session was running a little late.

After the session it was time for a taste test! ;)

We were served freshly filleted salmon and a new product from Alpenlachs that is still being developed: fish sausage. I was very intrigued and could not wait to try it. My verdict: It didn’t really taste like fish, more like ‘regular’ sausage with a very light fishy aftertaste.

Next up was a session about food photography and food styling with the lovely Eva Fischer.

She gave great tips for photography beginners and explained with very easy examples how a DSLR camera works (always good to know!) and what to bear in mind when taking pictures of food. I also really enjoyed that she incorporated a practical aspect into the session by encouraging us to do some food styling. To be honest we were all a bit shy and in the end she was the one styling the food but it was interesting to see her approach to taking pictures and she had some very helpful tips. 

After that it was already time for lunch. I opted for a delicious lentil curry with mint yoghurt and Persian rice.

The superstar of the day and my personal highlight was definitely Thomas Schauer’s session about food photography.

Thomas is a world-known food photographer who works together with his wife Sahinaz in New York and Vienna. Thomas showed us his photos from his work to explain his approach to different food photography projects. He highlighted the differences between food styling for a cookbook and for ads and granted us a ‘look’ behind the scenes from his experiences with world-leading chefs. I found it really interesting what inspired him to use certain props for his jobs. Thomas also told us how the difference in atmospheres of New York and Vienna inspires him and how this reflects in his work.

Taking pictures of his art work from the screen wouldn’t have done it any justice but I invite you check out his portfolio here. Beware the photos are breathtakingly delicious and you will get hungry! We were even able to take a peek at pictures of his upcoming cookbook with pastry chef genius and Cronut ^TM  inventor, Dominique Ansel. Very exciting for a foodie ;)

It was time to relax for a bit with coffee and a delicious gluten-free cake, freshly baked in one of the sessions from Alex.

I had registered for a cooking session as well, so around 4 p.m it was time to make some pasta with Sonja and Oliver from Compliment to the Chef.

We made three delicious versions of filled pasta, one with a meat-filling, a vegetarian filling with ricotta and spinach and a semi-vegan one with dried tomatoes, garlic (and parmesan). The session was perfectly timed as I was getting hungry again! All three pasta versions tasted delicious but my favorite was the ‘vegan’ pasta filling. 

The event was slowly coming to an end but not before trying some drinks from the Averna happy hour bar. I tried a delicious Mojito Siciliano and Mary Honey.

The last highlight was unpacking the goodie ‘bag’ at home, which consisted of an actual bag and a huge box. It felt a lot like Christmas! :) The sponsors were very generous to us!

All the participants received an Airfryer from Philips and some goodies from Alpenlachs, Riess, Averna, Meinl, Adamah, Fandler, Die Pfefferei, Muesli Brikett, Verival, and many more!

Thank you so much Nina & Dani for having me! It was such an amazing event and I had a blast! And a big thank you to all the great sponsors. I already tried out my Airfryer the next day and I’m impressed! It made the best fries ever! I’m already hooked and can’t wait to come up with new recipes for it.

What I really liked about the Food Camp was to meet so many fellow foodies and for the first time I didn’t feel like the ‘weird’ one who is taking pictures of everything! :D

So how would I sum up the Food Camp 2014 in one word? Legen – wait for it -dary!!! ;)

Xo Vicki