April 2013 marks our blog’s first year anniversary. We opportunely celebrated it by participating at the International Association of Culinary Professional (IACP) Book and Blog Festival in San Francisco.

Founded more than 30 years ago the IACP, now with 3000 members in 32 countries, is the world's largest and most influential association of culinary professionals. The mission of IACP is to connect members with the people, places, and knowledge they need to succeed.

Its wide –ranging membership comprises of chefs, restaurateurs, foodservice operators, writers, photographers, stylists, marketers, dietitians, cooking instructors, and many other culinarians.

Themed Dirt to Digital: Real Food in a Virtual World, this year’s 4-day conference attracted more than 700 members, participating in food tours all over town, cooking classes, discussions, business meetings, parties and networking events.

The IACP 2013 Book & Blog Festival was held on Sunday April 7 in concurrent with the Culinary Expo at the Concourse, San Francisco Design Center. Built with contemporary glass and steel the center is a perfect place for culinary celebration with natural light pouring through retractable skylights.

More than 60 authors and bloggers whose works are dedicated to the world of food and drink signed up for the festival.

Among them were 2013 IACP cookbook award winners: Matthew Locricchio (Teen Cuisine: New Vegetarian); Naomi Duguid (Burma: Rivers of Flavor); and Judith Fertig (The Back in the Swing Cookbook: Recipes for Eating and Living Well Every Day After Breast Cancer).

We had a table under Amanda Niode at the Book & Blog Festival, displaying Omar Niode Foundation’s latest book: 50 Appetizing Snippets. Agriculture, Food and Culinary Muse.

The book is a collection of our favorite posts at Omar Niode Foundation’s blog covering agriculture, food, and culinary arts. In it you can find stories about culinary travel, food experience, programs, initiatives and tastes from around the world with 50% of the content focused on Indonesia.

Due to San Francisco Health Department requirements, book and blog exhibitors were not allowed to bring in food. The organizer informed us that many exhibitors personalize their tables with flowers, signs, and other elements to express their brand.

Our table looked festive with trinkets from Indonesia. In addition to the Foundation’s brochure, book and CD we had a decorative mini gamelan, a red canister and a wicker plate full with pins. Loro blonyo,  the inseparable couple in batik design, guarded the book.

We were extremely lucky to be placed next to Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart authors of Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking. Many people came by to say hello to Nathalie the author of eleven cookbooks who has hosted over 300 television shows.

Some of Nathalie’s friends stopped by our table as well, including Martin Yan.  This celebrity master chef had over 3,000 cooking shows broadcasted worldwide and has published more than 30 books.

Chef Martin who is planning to visit Indonesia for a program with Asian Food Channel asked for our brochure and CD.

Books Inc., a West Coast independent bookseller, was responsible for ordering, supplying, and selling all books at the festival.

They set up a nice corner bookstore right after the entrance of San Francisco Design Center. Ingrid Nystrom, manager of Books Inc. enthusiastically chatted with authors who have books displayed and guests who came to see the latest publications in the food and drink industry.

Ingrid said the festival is not intended to sell as many books as possible. The most important thing is the network and the opportunity to showcase the works of authors and bloggers.

Ingrid was right, we were ecstatic to see our book displayed along with books by great authors.

Among them were books by Sandor Ellix Katz, a fermentation revivalist with three popular fermentation books on his belt. Another was Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate by Pam Williams & Jim Eber, a global journey from cacao gene and cocoa bean to chocolate bar and bonbon to gauge the future of the world's finest chocolate.

The best surprise was seeing books by and on M.F.K. Fisher exhibited next to our book. Anne Zimmerman edited Musings on Wine and Other Libations, Love in a Dish and Other Culinary Delights and An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher.

Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, as explained in a website dedicated to her, was the pioneer of food writing and a prolific American writer who expressed the art of eating simply but well, of taking pleasure where it is found and of loving life with all of its challenges.

Learning from such an inspiring festival we hope to keep blogging for many years to come. There are endless possibilities of where our next anniversaries will be celebrated.

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Images: Arif Hasyim, Matthew Benoit/Shutterstock,  Omar Niode Foundation.