I like to eat. I like food. It’s not a comfort thing! Generally, if I am stressed, I DON’T eat. It’s when I am happy that I eat the most… which could explain why I gained about 15 pounds after getting married. I’m working on that, but the long and short of it is simply that I do like food.
I also really like to discover places in Nashville. New places. Old places. I just like to discover places in, and things about, my city.
So it goes to reason that on my Twitter feed, Taste Casting caught my attention. The discovery of new places to eat? Sampling menu items? Blogging about my experience? Brilliant!!
Without taking a moment to second guess it, I signed up. It wasn’t until later that I started to do the, “What if I don’t get along with the other bloggers?” or “Who am I kidding? I’m not foodie.” and “Will this work with my schedule?”
Those questions were silenced once again simply with the idea of good food, city exploration and blog fodder. It couldn’t be a bad thing at all.
Wednesday night, I attended a meet and greet with other bloggers who had signed up to be a part of Nashville’s Taste Casting team. My husband came along, and I really hope I can convince him to also become a member and this be something we enjoy together. But even if he declines, I can already tell — based on this first experience –Â I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this new endeavor, the people I’m going to (and already have!) meet, and the things that I will learn.
Despite there being only four members of the group in attendance, myself included in that tally, I’m excited about the possibilities. It was very much like meeting three other kindred spirits. I feel like I can learn a lot from them, but in the same breath once again feel like I have found a place that I fit. The friends and business contacts that can be made are exciting. The new places to discover make me curious. The food to be tasted makes me hungry. The job to get done gives me determination.
What is Taste Casting, you might ask?
Taste Casting is a group of people — bloggers, twitter users, Facebook addicts, all of the above — who come together to visit restaurants we are invited to review. Upon an invitation to review a restaurant (or a bakery or a coffee shop… any type of food service establishment) a group will meet on a specific night and time to have a meal provided by the restaurant. At that time, the members will have an opportunity to critique and ask questions — not only about the food, but also about the ambiance, the service, the menu… everything! Photography, video, and Twitter and blog posts are to be made to help promote this new business. Consider it a whole other avenue of advertising for the establishment as well as a wonderful networking opportunity for the social network members.
As I’ve said before, I’m excited for this, and we are have room for more members in our Nashville Taste Casters group. Just visit Taste Casting, take a look around, and if you’re in Nashville and interested… join! Or if you own an eating establishment and would like to have us review your business, Request A Tasting!
It’s all about food and social media. Sounds like a positive combination to me!
This sounds pretty cool. I might be interested in doing this with you. Send me some more info. How often do you do this?
You got it! Would absolutely LOVE to have you join!
Right now, we don’t have any tastings lined up that I know of… it’ll be an as-requested thing. I doubt it would be more than once a week. We were talking about that it would be about a 6 pm meal, and we’re going to focus on the downtown and West End areas.