An Interview With: Tasty Mediterraneo

Hosting other people on my blog is probably up there with one of my favourite things to write about.. I get to discover new blogs and people and I'll be honest, I am a little bit nosey so I do enjoy delving a little deeper into the person behind a blog, what they do and why they do what they do. I love being able to share some of these people with you lovely lot who read my blog and that's why I created this series for 2019: An Interview With...
This month I have had the pleasure of hosting an amazing lady who's blog I only came across recently. Margarita of Tasty Mediterraneo...

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT IS YOUR BLOG ABOUT?

I am Margarita Ribot, a certified Nutrition & Health Coach currently completing an MSc in Food, Nutrition & Health at University College Dublin (UCD) to become a Registered Associate Nutritionist (ANutr). On my award-winning Health Blog www.tastymediterraneo.com I share healthy vegetarian recipes from the Mediterranean diet in 4 languages (English, French, Spanish & Arabic) to encourage my readers from all-around the world to cook healthy meals at home and to eat less ultra-processed foods.

WHY AND WHEN DID YOU START YOUR OWN BLOG?

I started my blog in June 2015 when I took a sabbatical leave from work. Before I started my career in nutrition, with my double competency: Engineer + MBA, I worked for over 12 years in the corporate world with international experience and global responsibilities. Having worldwide responsibility I was always traveling and I could hardly see my family. I decided to take a break from work to be able to spend more time with my family and to focus on my passion for Nutrition & Health. Four years later, I can say I am not going back to my previous career.

IS BLOGGING YOUR FULL-TIME JOB? IF NOT, WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO?

Blogging is not my full-time job, but I use my blog as the platform to offer my Nutrition & Health Coaching services.

WHO WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR CORE AUDIENCE OR THOSE YOU'D HOPE TO REACH OUT TO?

My core audience are people interested in the Mediterranean diet and willing to improve their eating habits. With the hectic lives that we lead in today’s society, many people are far from having healthy eating and lifestyle habits. There is a growing number of people suffering from chronic health conditions and many of them could be improved, and even avoided, only by following a healthy diet and lifestyle. On my blog I show my readers that healthy eating is possible even on a restricted budget, they only need to take the time to cook healthy meals at home and to eat less fast food and processed meals. I show them that cooking can fit in a busy lifestyle by sharing healthy, nutritious, affordable and very easy to prepare Mediterranean recipes, being most of them ready in 30 minutes or less.

THERE IS SAID TO BE A HUGE SENSE OF COMMUNITY BETWEEN BLOGGERS AND THEIR BRANDS; HOW DO YOU THINK SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED ON THIS?

Personally I believe that social media has made the community of bloggers even stronger. The majority of bloggers I know in person today, I had met them first through social media, and I can happily say I count with very good friends within this community.

DO YOU HAVE A SCHEDULE FOR YOUR BLOG I.E. DO YOU PLAN AHEAD, OR JUST GO WITH THE FLOW?

In the early days, when I was on sabbatical, I was quite organised and I used to post a recipe per week. But know in between work and my MSc I tend to publish one or - at the best case scenario - two recipes per month.

RECIPES FEATURE HEAVILY ON YOUR BLOG AND SOCIAL CHANNELS; WHAT FOODS DID YOU GROW UP WITH AND HAS THIS INFLUENCED YOUR RECIPE WORK?

I am originally from Spain where I grew up enjoying a healthy Mediterranean diet and lifestyle. I love cooking Mediterranean recipes and my best memories of home include food, family and friends around a table, the Mediterranean way! So yes, the foods I grew up with have definitely influenced my recipe work.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF YOUR BLOG/BLOGGING?

As an online coach I love helping people to improve their eating habits, and knowing that my readers from all-around the globe are cooking healthy meals at home thanks to the free recipes I share on my blog means the world to me.
Thanks to my blog I became a Gourmet Guru of the Global Pulse Confederation representing both Ireland & Spain. And the content I create is regularly shared by notable individuals and organisations, such as the FAO of the United Nations who published 5 of my Mediterranean recipes for the International Year of Pulses in 2016.
My blog has brought me many successes that I would have never dreamt of when I started blogging:
- I won “Silver Health & Fitness blogger of the year” Award at the Irish Health and Fitness Awards in 2018.
- In November 2018 I was invited to attend the "Food & Health Forum" of London as a "Key Food & Health Influencer of the European Union”. This event was organised by Reading University in collaboration with EUFIC and EIT Food. Amongst the other key influencers invited to the forum there were people such as Anthony Warner, Ben Coomber, Graeme Tomlinson, Dr. Zoe Williams and Dr. Stuart Farrimond. It was an honour for me to be invited to attend this forum and to meet in person other influencers whose work I’ve been following for a long time on social media.
- And in February 2019 I had the honour to be invited to attend the launch of World Pulses Day at United Nations headquarters in New York where I was given the opportunity to talk about the work I do on my blog, Tasty Mediterraneo, and about the importance of pulses in the Mediterranean diet in front of a very selective audience.
Definitely this is my favourite part of blogging. I invest a lot of time working on my blog but, talking about my own experience, it is only through hard work that you get rewarded!

WHAT'S YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE PART OF YOUR BLOG/BLOGGING?

When you have a blog you have to be on social media but I have to admit that I do not spend as much time as I should on social media. I try to post at least once a week on Facebook and Instagram and almost everyday on Twitter. Social media can be very time consuming and working as an online Nutrition & Health Coach, being a MSc student and writing each of my blog posts in 4 languages plus doing the food styling and photography of my recipes, does not leave me too much time left. This is what I like the least about blogging, sometimes I feel a bit overloaded.

If you didn't have your blog, what do you think you'd be doing instead?

To be honest I do not really know. Since I changed my career my blog has been the platform I use to reach my potential clients, people who are interested in improving their eating habits by following the Mediterranean diet. I do not know how else I could have reached my clients if it wasn’t through my blog. Probably I would have gone back to my corporate career, but I am happy things are the way they are today!

FINALLY, IF YOU COULD GIVE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO SOMEONE WANTING TO START A BLOG, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

In a world where the online content is so vast, my best advise would be to find your niche, stay true to yourself and your beliefs, make your blog your brand, publish regularly but prefer quality over quantity and always stay positive!

Note: All images taken by Margarita :)

Amie xx

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about me

THE GIRL BEHIND FITNESS FORSTER

My name is Amie and I am the face behind Fitness Forster.
I am a freelance recipe developer, content creator and qualified personal trainer. I developed this website to share my passion for healthy recipes, fitness and travel.