It’s already the third post about my favourite food blogs. Time for a German-language blog:
Ziii kocht…was by the Viennese Susanne
Susannes blog exists since 2011 and is one of the most popular and succesful ones in Austria. She is one of the best storytellers around the food blog scene I know. In her distinctive style that is characterized by the “Wiener Schmäh” (Viennese charm) she tells us lovingly funny stories around her favourite dishes and products. Her words and pictures are an invitation to follow her virtually into her garden, stroll around Viennes markets like the famous Naschmarkt, or sit with her in a traditional Beisl (kind of pub/inn). As I am – this might have become obvious during the last years – especially fond of Austrian Mehlspeisen, she is the blog I turn to when it comes to Topfenpalatschinken, dumplings,…
Her recipes are always seasonal and a good mixture of traditional and modern. What characterizes all of her recipes is the accuracy in describing each step of preparation. You’re never left alone and warned in advance from possible pitfalls. Read her gulash recipe and nothing can’t go wrong anymore!
Read here about Susannes perspective on food and blogging:
What is your main motivation for blogging?
I think this is a gene. Somehow I cannot help 😉
What is your favourite recipe that you’ve posted?
Currently I have a sweet phase. I particularly love the Schokoladeschüsserl (mini chocolate bowls) with strawberries.
What is your favourite ingredient?
Clearly ginger! For me, no other spice is so versatile. It goes with light fish dishes and hearty meat just as well as with vegetables. In summer you can make cool drinks with it and in winter original teas. Even desserts and cakes get an interesting touch by using ginger.
What are the main influences of your cooking?
This is especially the season. Depending on the weather my taste changes. In winter I like braised dishes with root vegetables. In summer I’m longing more for fresh vegetables. Seasonal availability therefore has a strong influence on my cooking. Strawberries in winter or pears in summer I find inappropriate.
What is good food?
Actually, everything that tastes good to me. This can be a simple soup, a three-course meal or just a sandwich.
What does cooking mean for you?
Cooking can have very different meanings for me depending on the circumstances that accompany me at this moment. It can be totally relaxing for me because I can delve into it and switch off. But it can be pure stress for me as well. That’s, when I actually don’t have time but have to cook anyway.
Your blog posts are usually very detailed. How important is writing and telling stories around the food for you?
That’s right. I attach great importance to pass on to my readers more than just a recipe. I like it when books, magazines and blogs transport emotions. Mostly, I’m not interested in a recipe, that is reduced to the practical.
How important is the photography of your food for you?
Very important, because that is what to a large extent breathes life into a recipe. However, I only photograph what I want to publish later. I am not one of those who pull out the camera at every occasion.
What do you think about sponsored blogging?
I am positively about it, as long as it is clearly marked for the reader. Blogging is a lot of work and causes costs. I think it’s perfectly legitimate to cooperate with companies, if a blog is not solely focused on this. I also find it important that contents complement each other.
What is essential for buying a cook book or for visiting a food blog regularly?
As already mentioned, I like it when you can sense emotions. Purely technical descriptions don’t interest me. Often very crucial for me is also the person behind it.
What is your favourite cooking book at the moment?
At the moment, beside my bed are laying Homemade by Yvette van Boven and Täglich vegetarisch by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (engl.: River Cottage. Veg Every Day!)
What is your favourite food blog?
Even though I’m not a vegetarian, I like to read Green Kitchen Stories, a vegetarian blog from Sweden, or from the Californian Heidi Swanson, who has already published several cookbooks and publishes her vegetarian recipes on her blog 101 Cookbooks as well. A new addition for me is Manger by the American Mimi Thorisson who lives in France. Although the concept is already very commercially oriented and seems to be extremely ambitious, it is also very successful and I like the blog anyway. It is currently certainly one of the most copied. However, in the field of food photography What Katie ate for me still is the unrivalled number one.
Among German-language blogs I like the one of my Viennese colleague Alexandra Palla much. Her Roughcutblog is funny, original and above all totally authentic.
Recipes and Photos by Susanne Zimmer for Ziii kocht…was
nadel&gabel 