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Blogging about food and wine is something that I thoroughly enjoy. I love it. Even more, I love the people and projects that have come to fruition because of my foray into the blogging world. When I started out with blogging, my goal was to show the perspective of food and wine, from someone who ACTUALLY works in the restaurant business. By trade, I am a service member and sommelier at a highly-rated Michelin. Which essentially means, I know what I am talking about when it comes to food and wine.
At least, I like to think so.
One of the best things about blogging though is the fact that I’ve started projects like Cinq: A Chicago Food Wine + Social Club, and the true friendships that I have formed with the great people surrounding that project. Kit Graham, Lauren Folkmann, Katharine Shindoll, and Laura Leigh Nash are four of the best new friends I have made in the past 6 months.
What I didn’t realize though, is that when it comes to food/lifestyle blogging, I am a man living in a woman’s world. 98% of the bloggers that I’ve encountered via social media or in real life are women. I guess it’s something that I didn’t expect when I started blogging. However, I can’t seem to find any men who blog about food, wine, lifestyle, or fashion. Don’t get me wrong, there are some out there. But like I said, 98% of this side of blogging is dominated by women.
I suppose if I wanted to find more male bloggers, I would need to get into fantasy football, comic books, video games, or cars. No thanks. I’ll take my chances with the ladies. The reality though is that I don’t have a problem being the ‘minority’ in this side of blogging. What I write about comes naturally to me. I live it and breathe it every day, so why limit myself to blogging about it because of the demographics of lifestyle blogs? The majority of my friends are females in the first place, so I don’t have a problem with making a few more of them. I know, I know. First-world problems.
Come to think of it though, I have only met three male food/lifestyle bloggers in my travels so far. So I think it goes without saying that events for this side of blogging are geared towards, and mostly attended by women. Which translates to me only being able to participate in certain events for bloggers.
Joining a social club that is geared towards women? Nope. Can’t do that!
Attending an event where I can learn how to apply makeup for a hot date? Nope. Can’t do that either.
Being part of a fashion show for women’s clothing on a local television station in the morning? Yeah, right. Going to have to pass on that one!
I think you get the point though. There are some minor inconveniences, and in a sense, it’s been a learning process for me. Where most men would be turned off by all the events geared towards women, I find that I am trying to break ground here and make a name for male food and lifestyle bloggers. I am extremely proud of the friendships I have made, and glad to be a part of something like Windy City Blogger Collective from the ground floor.
For all you men out there reading (ok, I know there are very, very, very few of you men reading this), don’t give up! Stick to your passion and have fun learning from all these great ladies in the blogging world. As you would suspect, there certainly is more “drama” than I anticipated. But I suppose there is drama anywhere. I’ve seen fights break out between men at fantasy football drafts, over video games, and at “bro-bars” because of the outcome of a college football game. Like I said before; no thanks. I’ll stick with the ladies and the deeper insights on things that matter to me.