10 Questions: Getting Close and Personal with Gourmantic

In recent months, we started to take a peak from behind the anonymity curtain, introducing ourselves as the people behind Gourmantic. With such introductions, questions follow. Friends and acquaintances have also taken to asking specifics which we are now sharing.

Our website has a varied international audience, and as we are unlikely to meet many people with whom we interact, this Q&A post is meant to bridge that gap and give our readers around the world insights about us.

1. Do you do this full-time?
Gourmantic is what I call a serious hobby, a website I founded to combine my 3 passions: writing, travel and food, with a bit of photography thrown in. Writing is in my blood, and the combination of travel and eating has played a dominant part of my life with Mr G. Many friends can attest to our dinner parties rolling into 3 am with conversation centred around travel and food experiences.

2. How do you split the workload with Mr G?
Mr G is an ideas man and a great sounding board for discussing various aspects of the website. As much as I would like him to write more, I am the voice behind Gourmantic and social media. He takes some of the photographs, edits and proofs some of the articles when I find myself too close to the content.

3. You’ve recently launched another website, Degustinations. How do you manage writing for two sites?
I’m lucky that I have strong planning, organisational and analytical skills that help me manage both sites. I keep a schedule of posts, review it on a weekly basis and adjust it to include time sensitive articles.

4. Tell me again, what is the main difference between Gourmantic and Degustinations?
Gourmantic is a magazine-style travel and food website. We feature experience-based travel articles, local and international restaurant reviews, hotel reviews, drinks and bars, events, gourmet food and an editorial section.

Degustinations delivers bite-sized information on cool places to eat, drink, shop and go around the world. It’s not always about where we’ve been but places that we would like to experience. There are no lengthy reviews and people can contribute short articles.

5. Do you review every restaurant when you dine out?
Friends always ask me this question! Definitely not. We’re always honest in our reviews and only write about places we like. If we’ve had a negative experience overall, we don’t give it any exposure. I’m not obsessive about reviewing ever café or eatery. At times, it’s good to relax without a camera and a notebook, and just enjoy the dining experience.

6. Your bio says that you’re writing a novel. Do you ever tire of all the writing?
Not at all. Gourmantic has a different style to Degustinations and that’s a challenge I enjoy. On the other hand, my novel has nothing to do with travel, food or memoirs so I’m employing different writing techniques all the time.

7. The articles on Gourmantic are always of a high standard. Obviously, you must put a lot of effort into writing and publishing each post. Are there any aspects of keeping a travel and food website that you don’t enjoy?
It’s true that I scrutinise each article before publishing it but I view Gourmantic as a portfolio where I can (potentially) refer publishers without having to cringe. As for what I don’t enjoy, I find social media to be a double-edged sword. It’s time consuming/wasting but fun in parts. Food photography doesn’t excite me much and the odd review is tedious to write.

8. Is there any particular type of article that you enjoy writing the most?

I have a strong voice in the Opinion articles. They’re fun to write and they flow easily. I also enjoy writing pieces that tap into an artistic flair such as Tasting the Mediterranean and those that evoke my imagination such as the review of Emmilou Tapas Bar.

9. Would you like to turn Gourmantic, or Degustinations for that matter, into a money-making venture?
Wouldn’t everyone? As long as it doesn’t compromise my freedom of expression and it remains within the ethical guidelines I’ve set, I welcome the opportunities.

10. Now that you’ve started introducing yourself with Mr G as the couple behind Gourmantic, are you going to go public on your websites, with your full names and photos?
It was a big step to ‘come out’ after staying anonymous for some time. I’ve enjoyed meeting a handful of bloggers and a few people in the food, wine and hospitality industries. “Hi, I’m Corinne from Gourmantic” no longer gives me the jitters. However, as a private person, I won’t be rushing to go public with our names and photographs on the website. Well… not just yet.

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Do you have any questions you’d like to ask about Gourmantic, Degustinations, Corinne or Mr G? Let us know in the comments below.