Interview with Aoife Cox

Aoife Cox: the talent behind The Daily Spud

This week I interviewed Aoife Cox, Irish food writer and blogger extraordinaire. She was generous enough to share insights into her background and the evolution of her popular, award-winning blog The Daily Spud. I was surprised to learn that Aoife is 'mathsy', that she had to work hard to promote her food blog, and that her favourite way to eat spuds is one of the simplest. And she's not just about potatoes either...

Aoife, when did you start taking food and cooking seriously? Did you train or work in the food industry before becoming a blogger?

I don't know that there's been a time when I wasn't interested in food and cooking (though I will say that I avoided carrots for most of my childhood). Baking was my thing as a kid - and, for some reason, anything with ginger in it was fair game: ginger cakes, ginger biscuits, gingerbread, ginger whatever. I liked growing things too - my parents always had a large kitchen garden, so we ate a lot of things that we grew ourselves, especially during the summer (when, of course, we always had our own potatoes). I toyed with the idea of going to catering college when I finished school (mind you, I toyed with a lot of other ideas too) but I was also quite academic and mathsy, so I studied computer science instead. I've worked in the software industry more or less since then, but have always cooked for pleasure. I've travelled a lot over the years, which introduced me to lots of different kinds of foods, and along the way I've also studied photography pretty seriously (I have some professionally accredited certificates in a drawer somewhere). My only formal training food-wise, though, has been the occasional evening or one-day course (and most of those have been since starting the blog and not before), though I have, in the past couple of years, taken up wine study and completed my WSET Advanced Certificate - so I am now what you might call a qualified quaffer.

There's obviously more to the Daily Spud than just potatoes, but what is it about the potato you find so compelling? In what form do you most like to consume it?

Confession: I didn't intend, when I started the blog, to have quite such a focus on potatoes. The name came first - i wanted something that would distinguish the blog as Irish, and the food most associated with Ireland is the potato. However, it became quickly apparent that people thought that The Daily Spud was about potatoes (because of the name, duh!), so I decided to run with it. I continued to write about other things, but started a regular weekly post which would include at least some reference to potatoes. Over time, I started reading potato books, attending potato events and meeting potato experts. The more I got into it, the more I discovered there was to know about the potato - not just recipes but history, farming, folklore - all sorts of stuff. It's the most widely grown vegetable in the world, a hugely versatile (and nutritious) ingredient and has a truly fascinating history. Before I lose the run of myself entirely, let's just say that I've been doing that regular post for four years and haven't run out of things to say about the spud yet. 

As for eating it, I like to consume spuds in many ways. I'll always relish potatoes that are newly dug in early summer, steamed and served with butter and salt. I'm also a sucker for a good, crispy roastie.

What were the circumstances of you starting your own blog? What have been the biggest challenges of creating and promoting an internationally renown blog?

May I start by saying that it seems almost strange to hear my blog referred to as being of international renown - but thank you kindly for saying so - I certainly didn't start out with any such notions, but I've put a lot of effort into it and the acknowledgement has been immensely gratifying.

You could say that the seed for the blog itself was planted, not in Ireland at all, but on my travels in Seoul, of all places. I had just eaten at a lovely local restaurant and the proprietress asked if I would write a review on a certain restaurant review website. I signed up, wrote my review and thought nothing more about it. A few months later, the same review site was looking for contributors to their blog. I had a look at their blog and, frankly, didn't think it was up to much. It occurred to me that I could the same thing, only better. Once the idea took hold, it just wouldn't let go - it seemed like the perfect convergence of my interests and background - technology, photography, food and a vague but long-held desire to try my hand at writing. For various reasons, it took a long number of months before I started the actual writing part, but from that point on, it was always going to happen.

As for challenges, I will say that I worked hard at promotion in the first year or so. I read and commented (thoughtfully) on lots of other blogs - not just food blogs but other Irish blogs too - and joined blogger networking sites. I got nominated for consideration in the Food & Drink category at the Irish Blog Awards a few months after I started and won, which was a big deal (obviously). I also, in that first year, attended the first ever food blogger conferences both in the U.S. and in London (yes, I was that keen). These days, the blogging landscape has changed a lot and you have to navigate the PR landscape, keep up with other social networks and figure out what events are worth attending and/or writing about. This blogging lark (in my world, anyway) gets to be pretty busy - and that's not counting the actual cooking and blogging part of it - it can simply be a challenge to keep going after 4+ years, to keep things original and fresh and to remain true to that early spirit that got the blog started in the first place.

Are there any recent developments or trends in Irish cooking that excite you?

There's a back to basics thing going on in some quarters at least, celebrating our traditional ingredients and dishes rather than (at times) being embarrassed by them. More of that, please.

What are you working on at the moment?

Several things. I still work a few days a week at my software job - blogging is all very well, but bills have to be paid too, I'm afraid. I'll also be getting stuck in to writing some new articles on food for the Irish edition of the Sunday Times (I started writing freelance feature articles for them last year). I'm a contributing editor for the McKennas' Irish Food Guide, which means I get called upon to do restaurant reviews and such like. I'm involved with another project which is going to mean more eating out in Dublin (but more than that I can't say just at the moment) and there are always a few potato-specific goings-on which vie for my attention. I'm also trying to clear a bit of space so that I can write something a bit longer than just a blog post about the spud - I've accumulated a lot of ideas over the lifetime of the blog - but what that might turn out to be remains to be seen.

Finally, I have to ask an Irish cook about Irish bread pudding. Do you have one, or can you recommend one? Any tips?

Hmm. I've never thought of it as specifically Irish bread pudding - I would have imagined that what we had as children was similar to bread and butter pudding in the UK. What I remember of what my mother would make involved stale batch (i.e. white) bread, soaked in milk, usually with raisins and some sugar added, maybe with a bit of nutmeg or cinnamon, and then a beaten egg or two, baked and then eaten with custard. Have not made it in years but I might just have to now.

Aoife's beautifully written and photographed blog can be found at www.thedailyspud.com

She was an absolute delight to interview and I look forward to having her on the blog again - especially if she makes that bread pudding! An important message I took from the interview was that networking and promoting one's blog are vital. Flair for writing and passion for food (which Aoife has in spades) are simply not enough on their own.

Thanks Aoife!

Piggy xx