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Bowling for Food

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Food is something that Malika Bowling takes seriously.  She is the author of “Food Lovers’ Guide to Atlanta,” “Food Blogging 101” and the founder of Atlanta Restaurant Blog.  Malika has also served as a judge at various culinary competitions and food festivals, including Taste of Atlanta.

In 2009, the 38-year-old formed the Association of Food Bloggers, a nonprofit organization. She started the association because there were so many people who were starting food blogs but for all the wrong reasons. “I think they started it because they just saw that there is a lot of free stuff, free meals you get from blogging. That’s not the reason you start a blog. There were lots of people who just didn’t have ethics around it. I wanted to start an organization that said, ‘Here are the ethics to follow. Here’s the guideline to starting a blog. They didn’t know what they were doing.”

In general, she felt that people needed guidance in starting a food blog, but she also wanted to see bloggers establish a profitable business. “I’m really passionate about my own blog that I started seven years ago, and I really want bloggers to be successful, not only because I’m passionate about food, but I’m also passionate about explaining to other people how they can build their own business, and build a career and a brand for themselves.”

She has become a mentor, as well as a referral source for companies looking to do business with “reputable” food bloggers. Because of her role in the association, she was subsequently offered the opportunity to author her first book titled “Food Lovers’ Guide to Atlanta.”

Surely, some may think that food tasting could become monotonous in the same city, such as Atlanta, but Malika assures otherwise. “There is just something different to try all the time. It’s very rare that I end up going to the same restaurant twice…”

 

 

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