Today our featured blogger is Aoife from The Daily Spud and we wanted to ask her all about her passion for food…

1. How did you get into the world of food blogging?

Quite by accident really. A food and restaurant review website that I was a member of invited me to contribute to their blog. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t particularly like their blog and declined the offer, but subsequently became fascinated by the idea of doing one myself. It combined my love of both food and photography and piqued a long held curiosity about my own writing abilities. Having a technical background didn’t hurt either, as I was able to manage all of the behind-the-scenes blog design and setup myself.

2. Do you have a favourite food dish to cook / speciality

Given that my blog is called The Daily Spud, I would be forced to hand in my blogging license if I said that my speciality was anything other than potatoes! Boiled, steamed, mashed, roasted, baked, au gratin, as chips or crisps – you name it, I’ve probably tried to cook potatoes that way. My favourite, though, is to dig my own potatoes from the garden, scrub them, steam them in their jackets and then eat with lots of butter and salt. Divine.

3. When did you first realise you had such a passion for food?

I feel like I’ve always had an interest in food and in cooking. As a kid I was an enthusiastic baker – apple tarts and gingerbread a speciality – and a dedicated picker of blackcurrants and gooseberries from my parents garden. In general, I think that growing up on a home-cooked, and often home-grown, diet informed my respect, appreciation and love for good food from an early age. Much later, through college and later years, I travelled a lot, and got to sample many different cuisines at first hand, which fuelled my interest further.

4. If you could cook one last meal what would it be and who would your 4 guests be?

What a morbid thought!

I think I’d like not so much to cook a last meal as to grow (part of) it. I’d keep the meal simple, let the freshly harvested ingredients sing and enjoy the company.

So, armed with carrots, spuds, beans, apples and herbs from the garden, I’d start with some freshly baked wholewheat soda bread and butter, along with some carrot and ginger soup. Next would be freshly dug new potatoes with butter and salt, maybe some french beans and a nice piece of wild salmon, with some lemon, dill and parsley. For dessert, I would have to have my all time favourite of apple crumble and cream. After all of that, you’d be wanting a nice cup of tea, though, if I’m cooking my last meal, you can assume that there would be plenty of wine drunk too!

As for my guests, while I’d want close friends and family there, that would be closer to 40 guests than 4 – and having to choose might cause some infighting! So, instead, I think I would host some of the other food bloggers that I read and correspond with regularly – they know who they are!

5. Share 5 other food blogs that you love

I have a feed reader that is stuffed to the gills with food blogs that I enjoy and (try to) keep up with. It is incredibly difficult to pick just 5, but here goes:

Tangled Noodle – Tracey’s posts on food and food culture are always both thoughtful and thought-provoking

Pastry Methods and Techniques – Jenni does a fabulous job of explaining the whys behind the hows of baking and is a very funny lady to boot.

Sippity Sup – if you want someone who will leave no stone unturned when it comes to exploring an ingredient, then Greg is the man for you.

Oyster Food And Culture – LouAnn provides wonderfully detailed posts on food and food history from around the world.
The Duo Dishes – I just want the duo – Chrystal and Amir – to come and cook for me some day

My favourite recipe:

I think that I have new favourites all the time. The Potato, Salmon and Cream Cheese Chowder that I came up with recently is one that I really liked. All of the recipe details are in this blog post.