My Weekend at the Culinary Blog Show in Soissons (8th Edition)
It was high time I told you about my weekend at the Salon du Blog Culinaire in Soissons, which took place on 21 and 22 November 2015. I’d been to the Salon du Blog Culinaire in Paris for the past 2 years but had never been to Soissons. A first, then! And for the occasion, I was accompanied not by my husband (who works on Saturdays and is starting to get tired of following me on my culinary escapades, poor thing ^^) but by one of my friends, Rébecca! And then I met up with my fellow blogger Séverine and her partner, who we made the journey with!
What’s the SBC?
The Salon du Blog Culinaire in Soissons brings together hundreds of bloggers from all over France for a weekend, sharing moments of conviviality around a common passion: cooking. Exchange, sharing, togetherness: these are the watchwords of this event, which has 3 main hubs: the Lycée hôtelier, the Abbaye Saint-Léger, and this year the Mail Centre culturel, where the opening show took place on Friday evening. The salon is also open to the general public at the Abbaye Saint-Léger. In total, there are more than 50 cooking demonstrations, participatory workshops for children, masterclasses, food battles… led by chefs or bloggers, as well as a gourmet market showcasing regional producers, a Cake Design area and a new Show Chef space.
It’s therefore very hard to see everything. I did try to draw up a schedule before arriving so as to make the most of the weekend, but in the end I was constantly revising it throughout the days. If I chose to immerse myself fully in the activities at the lycée hôtelier, I knew I’d be missing all the demonstrations taking place at the Abbaye, and vice versa. Not simple… downright frustrating, actually!
Before I go on, I’d rather warn you of 2 things:
- The first is that I’ve always had trouble selecting photos (so there are quite a few in this article — though I did manage to edit them down ^^)
- The second is that I tend to talk a lot!
So off we went in good spirits on Saturday morning. Soissons is only 1h30 away — quite quick, in the end. Rébecca, who arrived by train, joined us mid-morning. We arrived a little before 10 a.m. at the Lycée hôtelier de Soissons and, just like in Paris, the day kicked off with the traditional handing out of badges bearing our blog name, an apron and the schedule. Security had been stepped up (a week after 13 November…) and we were also given a coloured wristband. After dropping our things at the cloakroom, the day could begin!
First, I headed over to the gourmet swap to drop off the things I wanted to “get rid of”. I was able to pick up 7 tokens in exchange, enough to treat myself to utensils and books from other bloggers. I came back to the swap several times during the weekend, as new things kept arriving throughout the day. It was great to see that my things disappeared quickly 🙂 What a brilliant idea, this swap!
While waiting for Rébecca to arrive, I had time to get my bearings, check out the various partner stands and see what they had to offer. Here are the partners at this year’s salon: Les huiles d’olives du terroir, Seb/Moulinex/Tefal (connected cooking), La Fourme d’Ambert, les vins Fronton, Alpro, le Calvados Magloire, Sainte Lucie, Brita et Falcon.
Not being much of a savoury person, I didn’t linger too long at those stands. With one exception: the Alpro stand and its smoothies. I absolutely loved the “Smoothie Rose Coco” — made with coconut plant-based drink, raspberries, pink grapefruit, banana and ginger.
On to the “tart” workshop with Chef Régis. Rébecca and I teamed up with Chloé from the blog Par faim d’arômes. We made a dacquoise tart with lemon diplomat cream and exotic fruits. An absolute delight that we enjoyed at lunchtime (well… the workshop ran very late and we ended up eating after everyone else, around 2 p.m.). I was reunited with Régis’s smile and good humour — I’d met him at a chocolate workshop at the Paris Salon du Blog Culinaire the previous year!
At lunchtime, a quick lunch with the little group we had formed during the tart workshop. It was really a shame the workshop ran so late (the end time listed on the schedule was wrong) — a bit of a feeling of arriving “after the battle”.
In the afternoon, I joined the “travel cake” workshop, also led by Chef Régis. I caught up with my friend Séverine there, as well as other bloggers I had met at the 750g cookie workshop: Céline (CL qui fait de la pâtisserie) and Vanessa. We made a chocolate, chestnut and orange fondant. A wonderful recipe I can’t wait to share with you!
Here are a few steps in making this dessert.
Time flies. I took plenty of breaks to avoid my back hurting too much. It was also time to collect the address of the hotel where we’d be staying for the night. Séverine and I had been selected to lead a demo the following day at the Abbaye Saint-Léger (whoaaaa!) and bloggers giving a demo were entitled to a hotel room. Fortunately, I was at the Ibis hotel with Rébecca, right next to the lycée hôtelier (and also next to the Première Classe hotel where Séverine and her partner were staying). I discovered the room — lovely — and had a little lie-down while waiting for the evening meal. We met up at 7 p.m. to go and eat. Everything had been done to make us happy. Special mention to all the students at the lycée who did an incredible job! From aperitif to dessert, everything was perfect! We caught up with Chef Régis, Céline and other bloggers to share the moment.
The following morning, I attended the food photography course led by Amandine from the Chez Elles studio (“failed photo” workshop followed by the “food photography” workshop): 2 hours to try to pick up as many tips as possible for taking better food photos. Amandine is lovely and takes the time to explain things properly. Shame the room was so small, and you always want to learn even more and get to work with your own camera (though since we all have different ones, that’s not straightforward). It was simply incredible to see the photos Amandine produced in just a few minutes!
I met up with Rébecca for lunch: a giant paella was waiting for us — a real treat! Séverine was at the “tart” workshop with Chef Régis and I was worried she’d come out late. At 2 p.m. we had our demo at the Abbaye Saint-Léger! I think I was starting to feel a slight flutter of nerves ^^
We left the lycée hôtelier with our arms full of little surprises from the partner brands — as always at every salon! We’re always so well looked after 🙂
We arrived at 2 p.m. for the demo at the Abbaye — Anne-Charlotte was waiting for us and helped us carry our things! We quickly got set up at our station and met the student from the lycée who would be helping us during the demo. One of us had to wear a microphone — that would be Séverine! Goodness, I was nervous and I didn’t even have a microphone! The setting is simply magnificent. We’d do a proper tour after our demo, but we already had a sense of how lucky we were to be there. There was quite a good crowd despite the cold.
We chose to make a chocolate and vanilla zebra cake — a fairly simple cake but hugely fun to make, and which makes a great impression when you cut into it. There were a lot of families and children in the audience, so I think it went down well. And in the end, there were quite a few people watching — more than I had expected. Plus, I only noticed it afterwards, but there was a camera positioned above our workstation so people could see what we were doing. Usually I’m the one in front of the screen, not the one at the workstation 😛
We had to manage the baking in an incredible Falcon oven we’d never used before. By 3 p.m. the cake still wasn’t done, but another demo was starting. We took advantage of a break between their two recipes to serve the zebra cake for tasting. It was a great success and people were delighted! The demo went really well, but as you can see in the photos, I found it hard to look at the audience. Not as easy as you might think to hold their gaze and make the demo engaging by getting people involved. I realised this when I watched the bloggers who came after us — they had so much more confidence and experience than we did 🙂
One last souvenir photo with Séverine and also with Chef Régis, who had come over to say hello. What a wonderful experience!
We handed over the space to the other bloggers and finally got to enjoy the Abbaye. A quick look around, one last meeting (and words of thanks) with Anne-Charlotte, a few purchases at the small outdoor market, and we were on our way.
Time to head home already! We dropped Rébecca at the station and hit the road back to Paris. What a weekend — it went by in a flash. It was simply wonderful! Thank you to the salon organisers, Anne-Charlotte, Chef Damien, Chef Régis (and everyone else), with a very special mention for ALL the students at the Lycée hôtelier de Soissons who were absolutely brilliant!
Can’t wait for next year 🙂
Photo credits :- Photos bearing a “750g” logo were taken by Sylvain Bertrand.
- Most photos were taken by me, though I also borrowed a few from Séverine of the blog Délices et pâtisseries 🙂