The post below is brought to you by IFBC Sponsor, The Spruce. Meet Allison at #IFBC18 in New Orleans from August 24-August 26. Register today!

The Spruce is excited to sponsor IFBC and connect with hundreds of talented bloggers from across the globe. You’ve each carved out your own corners of the internet to share your unique point of view and your passion with the world—and that’s awesome. We’ve attended IFBC time and time again, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sponsor the conference and connect with each of you. IFBC is truly one of our favorite conferences.

In a world of social media-perfection and the endless chase for likes, it can be difficult to find real, authentic answers and practical solutions to questions and problems that surface every day. We launched The Spruce to help everyone, no matter their experience, aesthetic, or income level, make their life at home a little bit better. Your home doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to make you happy.

We carry this ethos through our food and recipe site, The Spruce Eats. We think anyone can learn how to cook delicious food—and we strive to share our best advice (and favorite recipes) with our readers.

As editorial director of The Spruce, I’m always on the lookout for writers, recipe developers, and photographers to contribute to our family of sites and collaborate with us on social media. Our audience is large—we reach over 2MM people every single day—and our topics vary widely; from simple recipes to more complex how-to’s around the home and kitchen. If you’re passionate about sharing knowledge, we’d love to partner with you and expose your writing to a whole new audience.

I’ll be attending most sessions throughout the weekend and look forward to connecting. Please feel free to introduce yourself or give me a shout on Twitter @Allison_Bean. I’m happy to talk shop, share our favorite spots in town, or learn about your favorite summer cocktail.

See you soon!

Allison with The Spruce

The post below comes to us from Arctic® apples an #IFBC18 sponsor. You can meet representatives from Arctic® apples in New Orleans from August 24 through August 26 by registering here. We hope to see you there!

You’re a foodie. Let’s face it, that’s exactly why you’re attending the International Food Bloggers Conference and exactly why you’re already thinking about dinner while eating breakfast. We completely agree – there’s nothing quite like fresh tasting food that takes your taste buds on an adventure. But despite all that delicious food that we can’t get enough of, have you really come across anything on your plate that takes it to the next level? Food that not only tastes great but can help make a difference? A new generation of food that is breaking through barriers, offering innovative solutions and changing the way we think about feeding the world? We have – let us introduce you to our nonbrowning Arctic® apples.

Arctic® apples have a nonbrowning trait that prevents them from browning when they’re bitten, sliced or bruised. Apples typically brown from an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO) but using an innovative biotechnology-based approach we use an apples’ own genes to silence the production of PPO. As a result, Arctic® apples have too little PPO to generate experience superficial browning while still being just as healthful as their conventional counterparts. Pretty cool, right? What’s even better is how this trait can help prevent unnecessary food waste. Over 40% of apples are wasted and Arctic® apples offer a solution to reduce those numbers through every segment of the supply chain. The technology can also help boost apple consumption in general, as I think anyone with kids can relate to how hard it is to get them to eat an apple that has turned mushy and brown. Heck, even adults don’t want to eat them.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest challenges we face, at our company and within the whole agricultural biotechnology industry, is the misinformation out there regarding biotech foods. There are many misconceptions about biotech and that often come simply from lack of familiarity and a fear of the unknown, despite being some of the most studied foods on the planet. That’s why we’re excited to be a sponsor of the International Food Bloggers Conference this year, so that you can get to know us and discover the benefits for yourself! You’ll have the opportunity to try our new Arctic ApBitz™ dried apple snacks and taste the difference of a healthy and convenient snack that requires zero preservatives. We’re looking forward to meeting you and hearing your ideas about creating healthy nonbrowning apple recipes, as well as, discussing potential partnerships to further the important conversation surrounding biotech foods.

Ag-biotech in general has the potential to not only boost product appeal and reduce waste, but it can also reduce water use, pesticide application, and overall production costs while increasing yields and improving lives. If we can all embrace the technology that will aid us to efficiently and sustainably produce the food we need to feed this planet we can make a powerful positive impact on both environmental sustainability and people around the world. Now that sounds like something to blog about!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zprArRM19IQ

Many of you are here already! Make sure to say hi to the folks from Eat Farm-to-Fork. #IFBC17

Fresh local foods, signature local drinks, and awesome local living. Fewer words describe the Farm-to-Fork culture that has completely engulfed the Sacramento region. Farm-to-Fork is not just about delivering the freshest food and drink to local restaurants, grocers and farmers’ markets; it’s about the pride of knowing what’s in your food, where your food comes from and sharing that knowledge with the people you care about.

In 2012 Sacramento was declared America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital by Mayor Kevin Johnson, after a local restauranteur approached Visit Sacramento with the idea that the Sacramento region should shine a light on its amazing food and agriculture and share it with the rest of the country. Soon after, the Farm-to-Fork program was off and running.

“Are locals aware? Through the efforts of Visit Sacramento, word of the Sacramento region’s fresh food is spreading quickly across the country.”

All great programs start with strength at home, and thus a partnership between Entercom, LLC and Visit Sacramento was hatched and Eatfarmtofork.com was born. Entercom felt that by leveraging their resources in the Sacramento market, they could partner with Visit Sacramento to elevate the Farm-to-Fork conversation in our own community, by giving locals a platform to find, connect with and share the foods we have become so proud of in the Sacramento region: America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital.

Whether you are looking for the best local eats in town, the farmers and markets who supply us with the freshest food around or simply a reason to drink a glass of wine or beer with a local heritage, EatFarmtoFork.com is the best place for fresh, local, Farm-to-Fork living.

Visit Eatfarmtofork.com and we invite you to find, connect and share your passion with us and ask you to help us spread the word about Sacramento’s food scene and to help #KeepSacFresh

#IFBC17 begins Thursday with two great excursions! If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, don’t miss out. 

The below post comes to us from IFBC17 sponsor, Avocados from Chile, whom you will be able to meet September 29 – October 1 at the IFBC.

There are food trends, food fads, foodie followings and then there is the avocado. Some have dubbed the humble avocado “The Oprah of Instagram”, and with over 6.5 million posts using #avocado, we can see why!

As food bloggers, you have likely taken your fair share of avocado toast or guacamole photos for that perfect Instagram moment, but if you are looking to elevate your #avocado game this session is for you!

Join us for our Discovery Session on Saturday September 30 from 2:15 to 3:15, where we’ll explore Styling for Social – How to Slice, Style and Solve your Trickiest Food Styling Challenges. California food Blogger Lisa Lin of Healthy Nibbles & Bits will have you roll up your sleeves for this interactive session, where we’ll introduce some new ways to style your avocado shots.

Throughout the session, you’ll learn how to get your avo-toast looking as delicious in your blog photos as you and your readers know it tastes. Lisa will discuss her secrets for some common food styling stumps, offering tips and tested solutions.

What avocado styling tips do you need help with? If you have styling questions or want to request an avocado recipe for us to share, tweet us @avocados using the hashtag #IFBCavocados and we’ll answer your questions during our time together.