Quiet Celebrations

The FSL Team and What's Next

Quiet Celebrations

I have only been writing on Substack for a few months, and in that time, I have changed the title of my first publication and created a second. The first (Substack) publication, Culinary Bakes, morphed into Clandestine Cake Club—recipes and stories from the CCC days of 2010 - 2018. But it became all about the past, removing my joy in baking and creating recipes. I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I should.

Then I saw what

Robin Taylor (he/him)

was doing with Small Stack, and I knew I wanted to do something similar for food writers and bloggers.

I let the thought sit for a while, but my gut feeling, which I often take notice of, said go for it. This is basically how the FoodStack Library was created. Since then, the library has grown, and so has the navigation bar. If there was a prize for building the longest Navigation bar on Substack, I could be in with a chance of winning.

I knew there was a world of food writers out there, ranging from the new Substack publishers like

Lolly Martyn

in Italy,

Sarah Frison

in the UK and

Jessie-Sierra; The Last Bite

in the USA. To those who have been on Substack for some time, like

Kate Hill

- in France, who’s Camont Journals are moving to a new narrative with her post - Champêtre is an Invitation to Snoop around Chez Nous!. And

Giulia Scarpaleggia

who lives in Italy and who’s posts Q&A: Other People's Pantry inspired me to create Other People's Kitchens.

I wanted to shine a light on as many food writers as possible by creating the FoodStack Library.

I promised myself that I would take negative comments with a pinch of salt, listen to constructive feedback, and learn from what didn’t work. I also told myself to stop checking the subscriber stats and quietly celebrate (in the way

Tom Cox

does, in his post Thank You,) each person who chooses to follow me or subscribe to the FoodStack Library publication. Connecting with readers and other food writers, reading their stories, and celebrating their success is rewarding. A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats became my mantra for our community of readers and publishers.

But I needed help, which is not always easy to ask for. I often wanted to pull the plug on Substack, walk off into the sunset with my walking pole, and plan a walking trip from Lands End to John O’Gaunts. Something I will never do, but I can still dream.

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The FoodStack Library Team

Asking for help

Even when people emailed me or commented, offering help, I didn't know what to say or do. All I knew was I needed the help because the alternative was to close everything down due to the overwhelm. And I’ve done that many times in the past and often regretted it. But not this time. Substack is different, and even more so is the creation of the FoodStack Library. I likened it to creating the Clandestine Cake Club in 2010 (now closed) and my positive gut feeling about it when I started. But I hated tempting fate then and I hasten to mention it now. However, with the same positive approach, I plan to run FSL for as long as possible.

But I can’t do it alone and have no plans to paywall it, either. I want to support as many food bloggers and writers as possible on substack via this publication. And I wanted it to be an enjoyable process not just for me but for everyone involved.

When I eventually did put a call out for volunteers, I was delighted when people applied. But, as I’ve just mentioned, I needed help, so I thought, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. and privately contacted

Robin Taylor (he/him)

for some advice.

Meet the Team

Sadly, I couldn’t take everyone on board, so I decided to start with a small team to see how things work out.

• Rebecca Blackwell
  - who lives and travels in an RV with her husband in the USA

• Perzen Patel
  - who writes about Indian food and lives in New Zealand.

• Rachel Ciordas
  - who specialises in Gluten Free recipes and lives in the USA

• Meet the Team - Read their full bios.

All are now part of my mini team of writers. To say I am thrilled is an understatement.

What’s Next

My original newsletter plans were to do Monthly round-ups. But towards the end of July and on the last day of a family holiday, I suddenly found myself face down on the hard concrete with my legs sticking out from underneath a large black umbrella that only a few moments ago was shielding me from the hot sun, in Whitby on the Yorkshire East Coast, after taking pictures of my family playing crazy golf.

One very kind person who came over to help said, Have you had a turn, or did you trip? I’d tripped over the edge of a grassy curb. By this time I was trying to assess which hurt the most, my ankle, my knee or my soon to be discovered, very badly sprained wrist. Pride and embarrassment figured in there somewhere, but that was the least of my worries. Had I broken my wrist, was my main concern. Thankfully our local small injuries unit near home, confirmed it wasn’t broken. It was a relief, but boy did it hurt. And it continued to hurt for weeks after.

Anyway, for the rest of July and all of August, the FSL publication was running on one finger. I have a sense of humour in these matters, and at my age, you soon discover that old bones heal very slowly, and heal they do, providing you don’t overdo things, which is what I did because I’m a bit stubborn like that and paid the price afterwards. It hasn’t fully healed yet, but it’s getting there. Note to self: don’t overdo things.

The Missing Months

In those missing roundups, I would have told you about what’s new on FoodStack and the latest cookbooks I bought - Sift by

Nicola Lamb

and Vegetables by

Mark Diacono

are two of my current favourites.

• RecipeStack - An index of links to recipes by the FoodStack Library community.

• Kitchen Tips - Tips and ideas on how to manage in the kitchen from those featured in 'Other Peoples' Kitchens’.

• BookStack - An index of publications by our FoodStack Library Community.

• CollabStack - A page to list your requests for collaborations with other Substack publications and seek opportunities to guest post.

So this mid September post is to help kick start the weekly FoodStack Reads from me and my lovely team of volunteer writers. The first post will begin on Monday 7th October 2024 from

Rebecca Blackwell

followed by

Perzen Patel

then

Rachel Ciordas

.

Each author will choose a different (Seasonal) theme and title for their FoodStack Reads and written from their perspective.

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Live Chat

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