Singaporean food blogger Daniel Ang founded DanielFoodDiary in 2011. Daniel Ang became a popular food blogger in Singapore by sharing his experiences with friends.
Daniel has a Master of Education from Monash University and a Bachelor of Communication Studies from NTU School of Communication and Information. He’s motivated to design innovative programs and offer his training skills to impact lives positively.
Aside from Food Blogging, Daniel is a corporate trainer at Eagles Mediation and Counselling Centre and a polytechnic mass communication lecturer. He’s been on Radiocorp Channel and other shows. Daniel produced “Daniel’s Food Diary” on Radio1003, was a news producer for MediaCorp News, and hosted the Asian Television Award-winning travelogue “Youth Quest.”
Daniel’s mass communications lecturer and tutors must have overemphasised the phrase “news value.” This is still his guiding principle when he goes out to eat at a restaurant or café. Daniel Ang enjoys eating. And he enjoys writing. So, when Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) suggested starting a food blog, he did it immediately since food blogging was just getting started at the time.
Daniel Ang did not expect many people to read his food blog when he started it nine years ago. Daniel Ang had no idea DFD would grow into a full-fledged online publication. He is already contented if some of his friends enjoy his writing because a few kept texting him to inquire about what they should eat.
Then DFD just kept growing and growing. The essence of DFD remains food in the form of a blog/diary.
Daniel had never considered making a name for himself. Other concrete and tangible measures, such as increased exposure, more appearances in videos, cross-collaborations, and writing more controversial or possibly click-bait pieces, could have been taken if he had desired, but he chose to do the opposite.
His foray into the blogging world quickly exceeded his expectations. The Singapore Press Holdings noticed the blog a few months after it launched. In May 2008, it approached him about writing food reviews for its interactive web portal. He established his official food in 2011.
Daniel Ang felt like he was missing something before he started blogging.
He wanted to know what “The Best” was for him.
He balances writing, teaching, and exercise because he believes that working should not impact one’s health.
People don’t realise how much work goes into food blogging. There is no glamour, but there are many trade-offs. For example, you may despise exercise, but the more you eat, the more you will have to do it.
DanielFoodDiary.com is primarily a one-person operation. Ang occasionally hires one to two interns but prefers to work alone. Daniel fears that if he outsources too much, he will lose sight of why he started in the first place.
The idea of a “diary” meant he wanted to write about his meals and thoughts about them daily.
Many sacrifices have to be made to become a food blogger, but if you want to do it and do it well, that passion should be enough to get you through. Daniel usually pays for his meals. There are a lot of invitations to restaurants, but he doesn’t go to any of them. Maybe 5 to 10 percent of the time, Daniel will only go to friends’ events to show his support. At first, this was because he couldn’t find the time to go to tastings and still publish content on time. Also, some food tastings can seem too planned and less authentic, making the restaurant experience less believable.
Food blogging has probably changed over the past year, especially since Instagram came along and made-up words like “instagrammable food.” Aesthetics and presentation are now just as important as taste when dining out. Daniel Ang doesn’t think it’s right or wrong, but rather a sign of how things are changing.Many food bloggers from the past, maybe those who started 5 to 10 years ago, have moved on to other things in their lives because it can take too much time to blog. Daniel Ang is trying to convince people who want to start blogs, not just in the food industry, that they shouldn’t do it for the money. Don’t start a food blog just because it seems cool. Not even for a blog about food, and not even for any other blog. Few people make a lot of money. If you want to start a blog, ensure it’s something you’re interested in.
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