{"id":89230,"date":"2013-06-16T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T18:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=89230"},"modified":"2013-06-14T20:32:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-15T01:32:53","slug":"food-blogger-spotlight-michael-natkin-of-herbivoracious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/06\/food-blogger-spotlight-michael-natkin-of-herbivoracious\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Blogger Spotlight: Michael Natkin of Herbivoracious"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you thought Michael Natkin’s popular blog, Herbivoracious<\/a><\/strong>, was a quaint little site about basil and thyme, boy are you in for a surprise. This chef, blogger, cookbook author and busy father of two wants to expand your mind about the world of meatless dishes. From his website: “I love to draw inspiration from cuisines around the world, and stay abreast of the latest developments from the best chefs, then apply all of those ideas to create vegetarian dishes that you can rock at home.” With 400+ recipes to his credit, Michael has definitely been busy creating inspiring dishes for his readers.<\/p>\n

Hey, Michael, it’s Father’s Day, put your feet up and let the kids cook for you!<\/p>\n

\"m<\/a><\/p>\n

Why did you start your food blog?<\/strong>\u00a0Honestly, I started the blog out of pure frustration. I wanted to be a restaurant chef, but five years ago wasn’t the right time in my life to quit my day job and make that leap. I have young kids and a wife with chronic fatigue syndrome, so it just didn’t work. I also have this unstoppable passion for food, and needed to find a way to share and connect with the larger culinary community. Food blogs were just starting to become popular, and I thought that “Hey, at least this is something I can do.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How would you describe your approach to eating\/health?<\/strong>\u00a0I always put flavor first. I believe that, barring specific medical needs, it pays to just eat a wide variety of relatively natural (not overly processed foods) and listen to your body.<\/p>\n

Have you always had an interest in healthy food or did it come later in life?<\/strong>\u00a0For me, being vegetarian was purely a personal choice. My mom was dying from breast\u00a0cancer, and wanted to try a macrobiotic diet so I learned how to cook\u00a0in that style for her. As soon as I tried going meat-free, I knew it\u00a0was for me. I literally went from eating at McDonalds on a daily basis\u00a0to vegetarian overnight. But I don’t believe in preaching. I don’t\u00a0tell anyone else what to eat. My assumption is that many people have\u00a0realized that eating more vegetarian meals is good for them and makes\u00a0them feel better, not to mention it makes for a more sustainable food\u00a0supply and is kinder to animals. So I focus on providing recipes that\u00a0are delicious, satisfying and beautiful, and leave the politics out of\u00a0it. By the way, I’ve written a longer post on this topic and it has\u00a0generated an incredibly lively comment thread. I’d love to hear your reader’s thoughts HERE<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

What is your favorite (or a few of your favorites) food\/ingredient to use in the kitchen?<\/strong>\u00a0Some of my current favorites are kimchi, kochujang (Korean chili paste) and smoked paprika.<\/p>\n

Has blogging changed the way you view food and cooking? If so, how?<\/strong>\u00a0Well, one thing is that I end up not making my favorite dishes often enough because I’m always trying to create something new. But overall, I think my cooking has improved a lot over the past few years from focusing on making dishes (and photos) good enough to share, and getting a ton of feedback.<\/p>\n

Which three recipes would you like to share with our readers? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bibim naengmyeon – cold and spicy Korean noodles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coconut rice with black beans, plantains and mango salsa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Vegetarian, tempeh-filled potstickers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks, Michael! Be sure to check back next Sunday to meet another healthy food blogger<\/a><\/strong> in our midst.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also Read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Food Blogger Spotlight: Diane from the Canning Diva<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Food Blogger Spotlight: Laura Wright of The First Mess<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Food Blogger Spotlight: Janetha Gallegos of Meals and Moves<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you thought Michael Natkin’s popular blog, Herbivoracious, was a quaint little site about basil and thyme, boy are you in for a surprise. This chef, blogger, cookbook author and busy father of two wants to expand your mind about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3687,3695,16],"tags":[10527,5264,8440,4600],"class_list":["post-89230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adult-health","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-recipes","tag-food-bloggers","tag-herbs","tag-homepage","tag-vegan-recipes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89230"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89274,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89230\/revisions\/89274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}