We have been talking for many years about starting a blog. Both Elizabeth and I own private practices in different cities and for several years have liked the idea of reaching people outside of our offices. Although our careers have taken similar paths, we each bring unique perspectives about nutrition and family feeding. Elizabeth was a professional baker prior to studying nutrition. She loves to cook and from what I can tell, cooking comes naturally for her. As a wedding gift, when we were in graduate school, she gave me cooking utensils and cooking lessons. I remember going to her apartment in Chapel Hill and learning how to chop vegetables – something that still serves me well to this day. I wouldn’t say I love to cook and it doesn’t come naturally for me. However, I think family meals are very important. It doesn’t have to be complicated or even pretty. I work on easy ways to get a meal on the table so we can sit together and eat. While I’m not the best cook, I’m passionate about keeping diet culture out of my family’s culture and am passionate about how I feed my children. On our blog, Elizabeth will focus much of her writing on cooking for her family and sharing easy recipes from her kitchen, while I will share more about how to feed ourselves and our families. We hope these two perspectives make our messages accessible to many people.
Once we decided it was time to get started on our blog, we knew that first we needed a name. Who knew that picking a name would prove to be so complicated and take such a long time? We wanted our name to convey that food doesn’t have to be complicated. We want to be the antithesis of a picture perfect food blog that adds to the “perfect mom” myth. We wanted our name to both acknowledge how hectic life can be and that food can be simple and doesn’t have to add to the chaos. As we brainstormed, I kept saying it’s like the Ying and Yang.
We brainstormed many times – In our first round of name brainstorms I most liked “Feeding Frenzy.” I hoped the irony wouldn’t be missed on readers that as parents it may feel like we’re constantly cooking or feeding, but that our blog would aid in feeling the opposite of this. We sent a list of our top 5 names to friends and families and they hated “Feeding Frenzy.” The feedback we got was that it sounded like we were feeding animals. Back to the drawing board. We paired foods that have opposite connotations: Kale and Cupcakes, Spinach and Sprinkles, Quinoa and Cookies. I googled different cooking utensils, Heirloom tomato names, and food-related phrases. Some of our ideas instantly ended up in the trash because the name was already taken or the url wasn’t available. Many times we wanted to settle on “Anna and Elizabeth’s Blog,” thinking if we didn’t then we would never start our blog.
Sunny Side Up was a food phrase that came up as we brainstormed one day. We felt it was right for several reasons. Sunny Side Up conveys being positive, something we hope will come through in our writing. Sunny Side Up is also personally special to me. It was my father’s favorite way to cook his eggs. When I was little he would ask me if I wanted my egg sunny side up or sunny side down. Also, we think the egg theme ties into my urban backyard chickens. While I am not personally a huge fan of my husband’s chickens, I do love watching my children gather the fresh eggs and am thankful they are a piece of our family’s culture. Elizabeth does love chickens though she doesn’t have any of her own. She has fond memories of the chickens at her grandparents’ house and the eggs they gathered together. And she loves eggs in almost all ways: deviled, fried, soft boiled and served with bacon and buttered toast, poached and served on a salad, egg salad sandwiches, and of course, sunny side up. The name began to grow on us the more we talked and thought it through. We sent out yet another poll and it was the clear favorite. Thank goodness we sent out those polls, or we would have ended up with a name no one liked. It was quite a time consuming and, at times, humorous process but we think our name is a fabulous starting point for what is to come!
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