Our First Year Food Blogging: Essential Lessons from a Delicious Journey

Friends, it’s hard to believe, but a whole year has passed since we embarked on this incredible adventure. A Hedgehog in the Kitchen is officially ONE YEAR OLD, and we couldn’t be prouder to celebrate this significant milestone in our food blogging journey! The past twelve months have flown by in a whirlwind of recipes, photography, writing, and discovery, transforming our passion for food into a vibrant online space.

Our path into the world of food blogging has been nothing short of a comprehensive, hands-on crash course. We started with enthusiasm but little technical knowledge, learning everything from scratch. From perfecting recipes to capturing their beauty through a lens, understanding website mechanics, and connecting with a global audience, every day has presented a new lesson. It’s this continuous learning that has made us absolutely fall in love with blogging and all it entails.

We firmly believe that embracing the role of a perpetual student is one of life’s greatest gifts. Each new skill acquired, whether it’s mastering a complex recipe, understanding the nuances of food photography, or delving into the intricate world of SEO, expands our minds and broadens our horizons. Blogging has provided us with an exhilarating platform for this continuous intellectual and creative growth.

Both Hugo and I are deeply fulfilled by our respective day jobs. Hugo is passionate about his work in electricity and sustainable energy in France, while I run my own center in Paris as an autism specialist. We are incredibly fortunate to already engage in work we love. For us, blogging isn’t an escape from these commitments; rather, it’s a beautiful and enriching addition to our lives, a creative outlet that complements our existing passions.

The true joy lies in coming together to create this “third thing” – A Hedgehog in the Kitchen. It’s a new passion that consistently gifts us with a vast array of new skills, from culinary arts to digital marketing. It’s also an incredible opportunity to build an awesome business from the ground up, entirely by ourselves. Navigating the world of content creation, SEO optimization, and social media engagement has been both challenging and immensely rewarding, allowing us to connect with food enthusiasts worldwide.

As we reflect on our inaugural year, we’re excited to share some of the most significant lessons and delightful discoveries we’ve made on this new adventure.

I love to write.

For as long as I can remember, journaling has been a cherished part of my life. Since the age of seven, I’ve filled countless notebooks, documenting thoughts, experiences, and observations. This morning, listening to a Food Blogger Pro podcast featuring Molly Yeh from My Name is Yeh, I was struck by her similar journey – how her love for journaling naturally led to starting a blog as a dedicated space for her creative expression. Though I didn’t consciously realize it when we first launched, A Hedgehog in the Kitchen has become that very purpose for me too.

There’s an immense joy in communicating through the written word. Crafting narratives about food, sharing our daily lives in Paris, and connecting with all of you through our posts has given me a continuous platform to express myself. It’s a profound satisfaction to put our stories and recipes out there, and your readership makes this aspect of blogging truly fulfilling. Thank you for being a part of our written journey.

You meet the coolest people through blogging

One of the most surprising and rewarding aspects of our first year of food blogging has been the incredible community we’ve discovered. Having always worked for myself, a common question I hear is, “Don’t you get lonely working from your home office?” Many people assume that self-employment, especially from home, implies isolation. However, the reality of blogging couldn’t be further from that perception!

Blogging is so much more than hours spent behind a computer screen – although there’s certainly a lot of that! It’s about finding your “tribe,” a vibrant community of fellow creators, food lovers, and curious minds. We’ve forged amazing friendships, shared invaluable information, collaborated on projects, and learned immensely from other bloggers and our readers. The support, camaraderie, and shared passion within the blogging world are truly remarkable and have enriched our lives in unexpected ways.

One of the most important things you can do as a food blogger is improve your photos.

When we first started blogging, we were acutely aware that our photography skills were, let’s just say, budding. For an activity as inherently visual as food blogging, photography is paramount. Our goal was clear: to learn absolutely everything we could about capturing the deliciousness of our creations.

Interestingly, my background as an autism specialist has deeply influenced my visual perception. Individuals with autism often possess a heightened focus on visual stimulation and notice details with remarkable acuity. The children I work with have, in a way, trained me to pay closer attention to the intricate details and visual narratives in the world around me – a skill that proved invaluable for food styling and composition.

From day one, Hugo and I immersed ourselves in learning food photography. We devoured every article, watched every tutorial, and sought out all available resources, aiming to improve our food photos as quickly and effectively as possible. We understood that beautiful, inviting images are key to drawing readers in and making them want to recreate our recipes.

Lemon meringue tart – photographed in May 2016, after we had been blogging for 4 months.

Ile Flottante revisited as a tart – photographed in January 2017, after 11 months of food blogging.

Hugo, a talented cook long before our blogging days, has always experimented with new techniques and flavor combinations. Our biggest hurdle was effectively translating his culinary brilliance into captivating visuals. The turning point came when we discovered the Pinch of Yum food blog, created by Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom. Lindsay’s unique food photography style, which inspires creativity while making recipes feel achievable, resonated deeply with us. That’s precisely what we aim for here at A Hedgehog in the Kitchen.

We found Lindsay’s ebook, Tasty Food Photography, to be an indispensable tool. It guided us through everything from mastering camera settings to composing and styling photos that possess that inspirational yet accessible quality. Its detailed approach helped us understand natural light, composition, and storytelling through imagery, making a profound impact on our visual content.

You can buy the Tasty Food Photography ebook and improve your food photography too here!

(This is our affiliate link. If you purchase through this link, we will receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting A Hedgehog in the Kitchen! You can read our disclosures here.)

Food is a love language.

Beyond being a primal necessity, food possesses an incredible power to bring people together. The act of preparing, sharing, and enjoying food is a universal form of communication, a way to share culture, and a means to discover new worlds. A quick scroll through travel accounts on Instagram instantly reveals a common thread: people are constantly sharing pictures of local dishes, highlighting how deeply food is intertwined with cultural experience.

After almost 15 years of living in Paris, not a month goes by without a “Parisian moment” – a culinary encounter that profoundly reminds me how diverse food is across different places and what a beautiful bridge it creates between cultures. Our food blog has amplified this realization tenfold. Our #1 most popular post to date, the Caramelized Apple Galette des Rois, perfectly illustrates this. We shared a photo and the charming story of this French Epiphany cake, where a tiny charm (a “fève”) is baked inside, and whoever finds it becomes king or queen for the evening, complete with a fabulous crown. The overwhelming response taught us that people deeply connect with stories, especially those centered around food and tradition.

This connection is also why we love serving dishes like our Mont d’Or Food Platter when friends visit. It’s more than just a meal; it’s an invitation to gather, share, and create lasting memories. Let’s pretend we’re having a dinner party and you’re invited!

Cooking is one of our favorite activities to do as a couple.

Hugo and I cherish our time together, making the most of our shared moments. We love exploring Paris and the rest of France, trying new cuisines, delving into poetry, spending time with family, and hosting dinner parties. Creating A Hedgehog in the Kitchen together has become a particularly special and fun project for us personally. It’s more than just a blog; it’s a shared creative endeavor that has deepened our bond.

This blog serves as an actual digital home for all our culinary photos, experiences, and cherished recipes. It’s a beautifully organized archive of our adventures in the kitchen and beyond. The added bonus, of course, is the immense pleasure of sharing all of this with you, our wonderful readers. The collaborative process of recipe testing, photographing, and writing each post allows us to combine our strengths and passions, turning a hobby into a meaningful joint venture.

Some of our favorite meals of 2016 :

(Clockwise from top left)
Leek Sweet Potato Soup: A comforting and vibrant soup, perfect for chilly Parisian evenings.
Indian Feast – including our favorite raita: An explosion of flavors that transports us to the bustling streets of India, right from our kitchen.
Sardine Rillettes Deviled Eggs: A sophisticated yet simple appetizer, showcasing the unexpected elegance of French ingredients.
2 Seed Wholewheat Bagels: The satisfying challenge of baking homemade bagels, a delicious reminder of mornings shared.

We will never stop learning.

One year into our food blogging adventure, our list of things to learn has only grown longer and more exciting! We’re eager to continue refining our food photography and styling skills, exploring advanced techniques for composition, lighting, and storytelling through imagery. We want to delve deeper into the art of French cuisine, mastering more complex regional recipes, while also broadening our horizons by learning about other types of cooking from around the globe.

A major goal for the coming year is to start creating engaging food videos. We envision producing short, captivating recipe tutorials and behind-the-scenes glimpses that we’d love to share on platforms like our Instagram page. This will be a fresh challenge, pushing us to learn new editing and videography skills.

Above all, I want to keep getting better at communicating with you, our amazing community of friends stretching across the globe. Your engagement and feedback are invaluable, and we are so excited for the chance to keep connecting, learning from your preferences, and sharing more of what you enjoy seeing on our little slice of the internet. The journey continues, filled with endless possibilities and delicious discoveries!