Livelaughtravel.net was started merely as a Travel Blog about our Travel adventures. But as we traveled the world, we realized what an integral part food played in a country’s culture and how you can probably tell more about a country just based on their food than anything else.
Besides, everybody loves food. When we blog about the latest attraction in a country’s theme park, not everybody will get as excited as we are. But I’ve personally never met anyone who is not up for good food. It is for these reasons and many more that we decided to start our LivelaughtravelEAT section, a Singapore Food Blog for all the foodies and non-foodies (never met one) alike.
The Story of LivelaughtravelEAT – Singapore Food Blog
Who are the people behind this Singapore Food Blog?
We are Alvin & Nicole. Globetrotter, travel enthusiast, food lover.
What made you want to transit from a Travel Blog to writing a Food Blog too?
It’s because food plays a huge part when you visit a country. Even for ourselves, we find that our travel itinerary always seem to revolve around food, that there is at least one or two restaurants/food places that we have in our “must-do”/”must-visit” list, food places of interest that we would recommend our friends and family members as a must when they visit a country.
What’s the difference in running a Travel Blog as compared to running a Food Blog?
Absolutely no difference at all. Like we said, a Food Blog is almost synonymous to a Travel Blog just because of how closely interlinked these two are. The biggest difference I would think is that because we are not full time travel bloggers (sadly), we don’t get to Travel all the time and hence there will be brief periods of time where we have no new travel recommendations. A food blog is different because even when we are not flying, we are able to do reviews about Food and restaurants in Singapore itself.
What’s the best part about running a Food Blog?
THAT WE GET TO EAT WITHOUT FEELING OVERLY GUILTY. I mean, consuming all that calories and getting fat IS part of the job scope isn’t it. The things we do for our readers 😉
You guys are running a Food Blog, can you cook?
We can mix cereal with milk, add hot water to cup noodles, make pancakes for breakfast, toast our bread before applying jam and that’s about it. But in time, we are looking to pick up cooking or baking of some sort, but till that day eventually comes, we would still be doing a lot more food reviews than we would be giving out recipes or anything like that.
What kind of food do you guys like?
Alvin prefers food with a bit of spice in it such as Thai, while Nicole has a sweet tooth and if given a choice, would always opt for desserts and pastries. Together, we’ll conquer the food world from sweet to savory and bring to you the best food reviews possible.
What’s the most exotic food you’ve ever had?
I wouldn’t call it strange cause it’s quite common within Seoul itself, but perhaps to the rest of the world, consuming a live octopus might seem rather bizarre. We’ve had the opportunity to try out a local delicacy called Sannakji, where you consume the tentacles of an Octopus while it’s still moving.
What’s the most expensive food you’ve ever had and was it worth it?
Off the top of our head, one of the most expensive dish we’ve had the pleasure of consuming has to be the Kobe Beef in Japan. Soft, tender and it melts in your mouth, yes it was worth every penny, but would we do it again, maybe only when we are much better well off.
Are you guys paid to do your food reviews?
(Sushi Socks by Sock Avenue)
We are not mostly paid to do anything really, neither the travel nor the food blog, we blog basically out of the love to share our experiences and so people who read our articles can learn from them. Even when we explicitly state that it is a sponsored post, we don’t guarantee our sponsors we would give positive reviews unless we genuinely think/feel so.
What tips would you give aspiring food bloggers?
First of all, I would recommend them to literally just start a blog. Don’t let anything hold you back, the only difference between everyone else and those “famous” food bloggers is that the food bloggers actually went ahead and actually start a proper blog. And once you actually do have a blog, these are our own personal tips:
On Food: To know how something truly taste, do not have it when you are hungry cause when you are hungry, everything just taste better. Also try not to have any prejudice against any type of food even before trying it. This is especially so when you travel to different countries around the world and try their local food. Learn to have an open mind before tasting something for the very first time.
On being a food blogger: Be genuine with your reviews. A lot of times when food bloggers get paid to do a sponsored post, they feel pressurized to write only positive reviews even when it might not really be the case. Don’t. Be true to your words and place your readers experience first. Personally, because we don’t rely on either our singapore travel blog or food blog for a living, we never feel pressurized to write good reviews and have the right to turn down sponsors we feel might not be as good. Giving genuine, trustworthy reviews gives your site a credibility that would most likely translate to higher viewership and over the long run, more sponsored posts.
On a personal level: If you are looking to be a food blogger, we urge you to exercise and exercise often before you start gaining all the pounds. A good suggestion is to walk to your restaurant/cafe that you are eating at instead of driving/taking a cab. This helps you burn those calories and earn the meal even before you start eating 🙂
*We have moved our Singapore Food Blog to a dedicated site at www.cactusandcorn.com. Food related articles and reviews will now appear there.