Friday 25 September 2015

Pierateers hit London for Food Blogger Connect (and pie!)

2014 was always going to be a hard act to follow! In it we achieved far more than we could ever imagine - including our first TV appearance on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice, being pie experts on the BBC Sport website and our amazing 5th Birthday Pie-rty!

But 2015 is already proving to be it's match, with our debut on BBC One as pie experts for Rip Off Britain and more recently being approached by Buzzfeed to write a football pie article for them next month! And the next step of this amazing blogging journey is to hit the bright lights of London and attend the Food Bloggers Connect conference in Chiswick House this Saturday!


Talk Like A Pirate Pierate Ship
While unfortunately we were unable to visit for the whole weekend, there are a whole host of exciting sessions on Saturday that we're looking forward to attending. These include a "Monetise your blog" session and "Awesome Analytics" session, plus we're looking forward to contributing to "The Great Big Industry Ethics Debate", where the impact of blogging in the world will be discussed.

Unfortunately I haven't spotted any pie makers on the long list of food suppliers attending this weekend, but I look forward to seeing what samples are available none the less. I'm also expecting plenty of time to mingle and network with other food bloggers, something I've only just started having the pleasure of doing.

As part of the pre-conference build up we were all asked a few questions by the Food Blogger Connect staff, so here are my replies:

What are you looking forward to learning and enjoying at FBC this year?

This will be my first FBC event and I'm looking forward to networking with other bloggers, getting some insight into google analytics and monetising our blog!

Is blogging your full time job? If not, what is your day job and what do you get up to when you’re not blogging?

Unfortunately pie blogging is not my full time job - but that's probably good for my waistline! However it's a full on hobby and great fun! In "real life" I'm an administrator and I love playing and watching sport.

What first motivated you to blog and how has blogging changed your life?

Everyone loves a good pie and when we were chatting about pies in the pub one evening about six years ago, we decided if no one else had already taken "pierate" as a pie reviewing website name, we would! Since then we've been on radio, BBC TV and the dream is to one day have our own TV series! (Well, you've got to dream big!!!)


Four courses in one pie!

What’s your signature dish?

We're pie raters, rather than pie makers, here on Pierate Pie Reviews. However we do have a friend who occasionally posts original pie recipes and her "Four Course Dinner Pie" (four courses in one pie!) was actually amazing!

http://www.pierate.co.uk/2015/03/british-pie-week-reci-pie-four-course-dinner-pie.html


How far have you travelled to eat pie?

We've travelled all around the world looking for the perfect pie - though admittedly most of the reviews are from the UK! One place we'd still love to visit is America - perhaps some kind of American Pie Tour!

If you could cook for anyone in history, who would it be and why?

If I could meet any cook in history, it would be the person who invented the pie. I'd give them a long handshake and thank them for their genius in putting filling into pastry and making that first ever pie! You don’t need to ask what I’d cook for them…

How is your lifestyle shaped by food? How is your lifestyle shaped by blogging? Does blogging shape your approach to food and what you eat now?

My lifestyle and what I eat is quite linked to my food blogging, in that whenever I am in a new pub or a new town I'll often seek out a pie. Increased travel these days makes this easier. However pie blogging has led to me being on radio, BBC TV, meeting footballer Frank Lampard... it's been a great adventure!

If you still want to find out more, why not watch our "Grill A Pierateer" video from a few weeks ago, where we answered 10 pie questions sent in by our twitter followers:



And if all that isn't enough excitement for you, this weekend in London will also include joining the guys who run the amazing http://www.pie-n-mash.com/ - a group of people who meet monthly to eat - you guessed it! - pie and mash at one of London's many pie emporiums and record in great detail the pie and mash consumed along the way! I'm hoping to get a few points in their league table for the pies I consume with them!

MyPie Truck Pie Review
The amazing MyPie truck!
Following that (and I hope I still have room for it!) I'll be meeting Pierateer Tim to rate the pies at The Queen's Head in Piccadilly, central London on Friday night. Looking forward to checking out their pie menu.

And our London pie weekender will be rounded off on Sunday with a visit to see the provider of our sixth Birthday Pie Party pies (happening on 14th November) - Mr Chris Brumby. For those who don't know, Pierate Highly Recommended pie maker Chris of MyPie has his own converted ice-cream van from which he sells top pies in London and we're looking forward to getting our hands on his Steak and Ale pie! There will probably be a few cheeky pie party plans to discuss too!

It's all going on here on the web's leading pie review website these next few months - and we can't wait to share it all with you! In the meantime, look out for more on our sixth birthday party soon, as we announce how you could be a part of it!

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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