Pork Checkoff Caters To Foodies At BlogHer

From Jaden Hair's Steamy Kitchen to Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman, female bloggers with a passion for cooking have taken the online world by storm. The Pork Checkoff connected with many of these influential "family foodies" to promote pork during the recent 2010 BlogHer conference in New York City.

"These women have a tremendous following online and are becoming celebrities in their own right," says Cathy Lee Fredrickson, online content manager for the Pork Checkoff, who noted that more than 2,400 bloggers attended the two-day conference in early August. "We want to build relationships with these bloggers and encourage them to include pork on their menus and online."

The annual BlogHer conference has become a can't-miss event for many of the online world's leading bloggers. What started as a small gathering several years ago has continued to grow and is expected to attract 3,500 people at the 2011 event in San Diego next August 4-6. To get the most bang for the buck at this year's conference, the Pork Checkoff sponsored a break-out session titled "Family Foodies: Creating a New Generation of Gourmands," which was hosted by three popular bloggers: Stefania Pomponi Butler of CityMama, Sarah Caron of Sarah's Cucina Bella and Danielle Wiley of Foodmomiac.

Attendees ate up not only the information, but hundreds of samples of Indian Spiced Pork Kabobs, as well.

"We were told to expect 250 people, so we prepared 300 pork samples and ran out of food in seven minutes," says Fredrickson, who noted that the Pork Checkoff also distributed a specially-revised "Farm Table to Family Table" pork recipe brochure, a $20 Kroger supermarket gift card for pork, bacon lollypops and pork branded meat thermometers, which were the surprise hit of the event. "We reached our goal of making the event fun, adding the 'wow' factor and bringing in the farm-to-family tie with recipes that bloggers appreciate."

The 2010 BlogHer conference marks the Pork Checkoff's latest efforts to connect with key influencers in the online world. For two years, the Checkoff has partnered with Shauna James Ahern, who writes the official blog, PorkKnifeandSpoon.com, of the National Pork Board, to harness the power of the social media and promote all things pork. Pork Checkoff representatives also are making plans to attend the BlogHer Food Conference in San Francisco this fall and build on momentum generated a the summer BlogHer conference.

For more information, contact Cathy Lee Fredrickson, CFredrickson@pork.org, 515-223-2767.

Source: The Pork Checkoff