BLOGGER: Michelle Venorsky
FEATURED BLOG(S): Cleveland Foodie
TWITTER: @MichelleV
FACEBOOK: Michelle Venorsky
Cleveland Foodie Michelle Venorsky. Photo courtesy ClevelandFoodie.com. Keith Berr Photography.
I love to travel, however I’ve yet to visit Cleveland, Ohio. So, when I started scouting out Cleveland bloggers for our Bloggers We Love series, I really only knew 3 things about Cleveland: 1) it’s home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2) the poet George Bilgere teaches there, and 3) it once boasted the highest concentration of Hungarians in the world outside of Budapest (those last two may seem random, I know, but I’m Hungarian and a poet).
After getting to know Michelle Venorsky of Cleveland Foodie, that’s changed. Michelle taught me a lot about Cleveland’s vibrant food culture. From farm-to-table to family-friendly to fine dining, Cleveland is full of great restaurants— and, according to Michelle, new quality restaurants continue to open: “Even in this down economy,” she says, “people are still eating out constantly, and our food scene continues to shine.”
I was impressed and inspired to find out more, and what I learned was really interesting: for one thing, Cleveland, which was once manufacturing hub, is reshaping itself into a service-based economy. Another thing I found intriguing is that, in response to the foreclosure crisis, the city of Cleveland invested millions of dollars in its Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The program (which some consider controversial) works to clear land occupied by foreclosed homes that have fallen into disrepair. In doing so, they’re creating thousands of acres of vacant land in Cleveland, which the city hopes to revitalize by embracing urban gardening, community gardens and urban farming. They’re even allowing urban beekeeping in Cleveland.
Knowing a bit more about Cleveland helped me put Michelle’s story in context: she’s not just a foodie, she’s Cleveland foodie, which means she’s a foodie living in a locavore’s paradise. I’m happy share part of our conversation (and her story), with you: it’s all about food, blogging, entrepreneurship and of course, Cleveland – a city I just can’t wait to visit.
What prompted you to start Cleveland Foodie, Michelle?
I started Cleveland Foodie about four years ago, really as a means of education. In my day job, I work at an integrated marketing communications agency. About five years ago I started to become really interested in social media, so I went to the partners and said that social media was really going to turn our industry upside down. They [encouraged me to educate myself about social media], so I did that. Almost a year later, I decided I wanted to write a blog, because I really wanted to understand this blogging thing. I knew you had to blog about something you’re passionate about, and I’ve always had a strong interest in food, because I grew up in a big Italian family and cooking was a big part of my upbringing. I absolutely love my city, too, so writing a blog about food in Cleveland was a no-brainer.
How has your blog evolved over the past four years?
When I first started, I didn’t think anyone would read it, except for maybe friends and family – but at the time I started, our daily newspaper was starting to shrink, and one of our alt weeklies went under. So, it was almost pure luck: I came up when all of these other things were going under, so people were looking for local food and dining coverage, and they found my blog.
What new opportunities have presented themselves to you since you’ve started blogging?
As my traffic grew, Cleveland Magazine and Metromix Cleveland took notice and saw that people were turning to my blog for information about local food. So, they [each] reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to freelance. It was a no-brainer. I don’t write for Cleveland Magazine anymore, but I still do 2-3 articles a month for Metromix Cleveland. And, of course, I’ve gotten to know all of the [local] chefs and farmers: I’ve really been able to build relationships with them, since I interview them on a regular basis. I reach out and say: ‘I’d really love to give readers an insight into your life.’ The blog has really allowed me to get to know people and build community in general.
What else has blogging done for you professionally? Are there lessons you’ve learned that can help other marketers?
Blogging has just made me a better marketer. It helps me understand pitching bloggers – I see the do’s and don’ts every day when other marketers try to pitch me. So, I can contribute to that conversation at work and add value ideation in this space because I understand it: [when I pitch bloggers], I treat them the same way as I would treat any journalist. [To my fellow marketers, I'd say that] you can read about the social space all day long, but you need to DO IT [in order to really understand it]. You don’t have to become an addict and do it every day, but you need to do it in order to understand why people are using these tools, too. There will be new tools all the time, and you should at least take the time to play around with them. It’s one thing to read about it, it’s another thing to do it.
What’s the local blogging scene like in Cleveland? How do you see the blogosphere evolving – in Cleveland and in general?
The blogging community here is great. There are hundreds of bloggers, and we’re so supportive of one another. Cleveland bloggers write about food, lifestyle, fashion, entertainment – they’re delivering such great content to Clevelanders. [As far as how I see the space evolving] – somebody just asked me that yesterday! I think [the blogosphere] is going to get bigger. I think that as traditional media continues to shrink, traditional journalists are going to have to find homes within the blogosphere. And, as [the blogosphere] grows, I think people are going to start holding bloggers more accountable, and we’re going to see more FTC-type guidelines being put on bloggers.
What’s one of your biggest challenges as a hyperlocal food blogger?
Food is so subjective. I could go out to dinner to any number of restaurants in Cleveland and have the most amazing dining experience, the most amazing meal– and then someone will comment or send me an angry email to tell me that their experience was terrible. People can be so rude. But I always tell people: I’m not a professional! I have a degree in journalism but that doesn’t make me a professional. You have to learn not to respond to everybody, and my general response has always been: ‘you don’t have to agree with me, and you don’t have to read my blog.’ I’ve never understood the need to be rude to people online. People often feel like they can hide behide their keyboards– animosity and anonymity go hand in hand. I’d hope people wouldn’t act like that in real life. But, the nice thing is that everybody else comes to your defense.
How do you see your blog evolving? Do you have any hopes and dreams for your blog?
I’d love to take a sabbatical from my job for a month and work in a restaurant kitchen – or go work on a farm, that’d be great. Haha, yeah, the chefs would be like, ‘who let this YAHOO come in and cook in my kitchen?!’ But I’d love to do it.
So, I’m going to ask the obvious. Why Cleveland, as a foodie?
I love this city. I absolutely love this city. [In my line of work,] I’ve had the opportunity to leave many times, and for my job I travel a lot to places like New York City and LA and Chicago. Those cities are great, but I’m always happy to come home. I choose to call Cleveland home. Any one of our restaurants could open in New York City tomorrow and kick ass. It’s interesting, I interviewed Kate Krader from Food & Wine magazine recently and we discussed the same thing. Part of it is because it’s so expensive to open up a restaurant in the bigger markets like New York. The chefs will leave home and go get trained in the big city, and then they come back home [to Cleveland]. That’s one reason why Cleveland has such great restaurants, like The Greenhouse Tavern. We’ve also got great local farmers and people who are doing really great farm-to-table food. In this down economy, we continue to open up really great restaurants. People are still eating out constantly, and our food scene continues to shine.
… Now I’m hungry, and I really want to come to Cleveland!
You should come to Cleveland! I will buy you a drink and take you to dinner. Cleveland is just a kick-ass city. Great culture, great people and really, really great food. You should come here and eat, come visit our museums, come explore our city.
P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in
