Vancouver is known for a few things: the beautiful outdoors, the rain and its vibrant culinary community. It was the perfect location for the Food Bloggers of Canada’s annual conference. This year, the three-day conference was held in the fabulously swanky Four Seasons Vancouver hotel, right in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The nearly 150 attendees gathered to celebrate the best of Canadian food blogging and to learn some tips and tricks on how to improve their work.

Photography by Sean Neild

The conference was sponsored by Canadian Lentils, Dairy Farmers of Canada, and of course, Canadian Living, a gold sponsor. It featured guest speakers such as food writer Dianne Jacob, travel writer Robin Esrock, food photographer Matt Armendariz and the authors of the hit blog (and book) Thug Kitchen. But let’s talk about the food. (You can’t go to a conference and not discuss the food!) Friday night’s gala dinner featured a stunning menu from Four Seasons’ executive chef Ned Bell, who featured products from Canada’s dairy farmers. The food was delicious but the best part was getting to meet some amazing bloggers from across the country including Raj Parsad of The Primal Desire, Michelle Peters-Jones of The Tiffin Box and Jenny Jack of The Brunette Baker. I did take the opportunity to try a few local restaurants—hey, when you’re in a foodie town—and some food and travel writer friends recommended the whisky bar, Uva where I tried pasta and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine. Shannon, a fellow attendee and I took a cab to the famous Vij’s restaurant to sample of his Northern Indian cooking. We were told to get there early because the restaurant doesn’t take reservations—it’s first come, first serve. We decided not to wait because we wanted to see the authors of Thug Kitchen so we tried Vij’s Rangoli, the sister restaurant.

 Andrea Kolber, digital product director at TC Media, and Duncan Clark, VP Strategic Initiatives, Post Media Network Inc.

Photography by Sean Neild

I could go on—and on and on—about the great food in Vancouver, but back to the conference. Andrea Kolber, digital product director at TC Media, spoke on a panel at the conference. Call me biased, but when Andrea started talking about how to monetize blogs—she opened with “My job is to make money”—you could feel the energy spike in the room. Each guest went home with a free 6-month digital subscription to the magazine and a copy of our November issue. Six lucky winners went home with Canadian Living gift bags. Talk about a treat!