Dancing About Architecture: Discussing the Craft of Food Writing at the 20th Greenbrier Symposium

I'm aboard the Amtrak Cardinal, homeward bound from an enlightening week at the 20th annual Symposium for Professional Food Writers.
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Note: This post is my submission for FoodBuzz.com's Project Food Blog, a 12-week blogslam to find "The Next Food Blog Star" among over 1800 participants. I'd appreciate your help: vote for this entry here. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

I'm aboard the Amtrak Cardinal, homeward bound from an enlightening week at the 20th annual Symposium for Professional Food Writers (SPFW) at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Even though Calvin Trillin once famously quipped that "writing about food is like dancing about architecture," there is no denying that what I learned there will have enormous impact on what I do on this blog and in all my other literary pursuits. Rather than change what I do though, it has served to deepen my fascination with the kitchen and the table as centers of our everyday lives.

Many of you already know this because you followed the liveblog that I posted on the HuffingtonPost.com/Food page. That was my first attempt at the liveblog genre, and I must admit it was more challenging than I thought. Our speakers were all very engaging, so listening closely to them and trying to take diligent notes while simultaneously Googling references and adding hyperlinks was a full time job. What follows is a Reader's Digest version of day one.

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