I love knowing and meeting fellow foodies. I love comparing notes with them– finding out their greatest adventures in and out of the kitchen, their foodie-related aspirations, and even their challenges. As a former reporter, I usually am the one who asks questions.
A few months ago, however, the tables were turned. A fellow foodie, Archie de Lara, wrote me to do an email interview with me. It was fun answering Archie’s questions, and I’d like to share the interview with all of you friends. Thank you, Archie for taking time to talk to me. 🙂 More power to you, fellow foodie!
Archie: What inspires you to create interesting food blog?
Ralph: A little background, Archie. I used to be a TV news reporter and anchor for GMA News. When I decided to leave, I decided to blog to continue the discipline of writing. I developed ralphguzman.org, which was an all-around site. Being true to my journalistic roots, I wrote political commentaries, and also wrote about cooking, a hobby that I was even more passionate about.
I later changed my URL to the present-day RatedRalph.com. While it still had the same format as ralphguzman.org, in 2011, I decided to pursue writing about food full time.
What inspired me now into food blogging? Pure passion. I love to cook, and I love to cook for family and friends. After so many years of cooking, I realized that food has the power to bring people together. A lot of my friends were a result of meals being shared with them. I wanted to spread word about the power of food in enriching people’s lives. And so, I went full time. I maintained RatedRalph.com because I wanted the site to be real and personal. I don’t represent any company or business interest insofar as food is concerned. I don’t even have a degree in culinary arts. I just wanted to spread the word. And I was very glad to know that the internet has allowed ordinary people (me included) to express themselves to the world.