Featured Foodie: Cynthia Bogart : The Back Burner

Posted by tierney on Friday, June 1, 2012 ? Leave a Comment?

Cynthia Bogart is the leader of The Daily Basics website, a modern, internet-based lifestyle magazine with features and events in Body & Fashion, Food & Drinks, Home & Garden, Literature & Arts, and Travel & Living. After having spent nearly two decades working with Better Homes & Gardens, she moved her talents online to reach out to the average person looking for a community in all of the aforementioned areas. Though nowadays Cynthia spends her time working in multiple different divisions of the magazine, she describes herself as a major foodie because of her food-loving Italian-Ukrainian-Dutch family. When she was growing up, both sides of her family recognized the importance of food in bringing families together. This is something that Cynthia strives to emphasize in her own family today even without having formal culinary training. The women in her family taught her much of what she knows, so her talents come directly from the eclectic sources! In her own cooking Cynthia prefers using fresh ingredients bought from local sources, so her dishes have a wonderful element of crisp freshness. Her northeastern coastal living also inspires many of her dishes. Cooking for large amounts of people is no struggle for her so she is a woman to admire! In the following interview, Cynthia tells us more about her upbringing and what influences her cuisine, as well as talks about The Daily Basics in greater detail.

Name: Cynthia Bogart

Business: TheDailyBasics.com

Twitter: @TheDailyBasics, @HashtagWhosWho

Hometown: Born in Brooklyn, now in Rhode Island

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1. Tell me a little bit about your cooking background. When did you start cooking, what made you enjoy it, and what has been your training?

I am a major foodie, which is why I had to include cooking and entertaining in a major way in The Daily Basics. My mother?s family was Italian and my father?s side was Ukrainian and Dutch, so you can imagine the international smorgasbord that we were raised with. Thanksgiving was turkey, lasagna, and pirogi! We were taught to cook from the time we were very little. We would visit my different grandmothers and learn their secrets and then go home to Mom who had gotten the Mad Men gourmet party bug.?We added cheesecakes, peach cobblers, and anything made with Bisquick to our menu at home!

2. If you cook professionally, when and where did you start? What made you decide on that career path?

I?ve never cooked professionally. However, as a magazine editor, I write about it. Having worked for Better Homes & Gardens for 18 years producing editorial stories on interiors, my passion and forte was shooting kitchens. I have learned so much from professional and amateur chefs over the years by virtue of having hung out with them in their kitchens while we shot! With The Daily Basics we have culinary contributors from our community in The Daily Basics Who?s Who who bring in their different mix of styles and methods. I love that about The Daily Basics- it brings all kinds of ?blogger flavors? together!

3. How does food fit into your lifestyle magazine?

Food, drink and entertaining is the base of lives. Growing up we had to go to our grandparents? houses every Sunday for a big Italian meal one week, then Ukrainian the next.?I remember thinking that all my family ever did was eat!?As an adult I realize that the food is an excuse for families to touch base once a week. Of course in my family, the food was amazing. That is how we approach food on The Daily Basics. When you share a meal and break bread together, you are sharing your time, your week, your lives.

4. How would you describe your cooking??

My cooking is based on the quality of ingredients. I shop for fresh, quality ingredients with no preservatives.?I think that makes the MAIN difference in a good meal.?I make almost everything from scratch- not bread all the time, but I try!?In the summer our kitchen garden produces enough for me to preserve and freeze for the winter.?The Daily Basics? lead chef, Robin White, and I recently had the pleasure of co-hosting a tweetchat with Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun and now The Tuscan Sun Cookbook.?She uses fresh local ingredients but has refined her Tuscan recipes to simplicity so that each ingredient adds an element to every dish. Her latest book is my new favorite cookbook ?bible.?

5. What are your favorite recipes and why? Do you usually cook for small or larger groups? What are the challenges of each?

That is a loaded question. We have two sons and a daughter and my boys are at the age where they have bottomless pits for stomachs. I do tend to cook in quantity for that reason alone. Favorite recipes?? My special Mac n? Cheese, big salads with EVERYTHING in them, tons of fish recipes- again, very simple (we live on the ocean)- and veggies, beans, and rice dishes.?There are no challenges in cooking for large groups. I always make extra for leftovers for my family anyway and then freeze them.?For instance, on Sunday I made French toast with homemade bread topped with a banana and brown sugar syrup.?Of course I used a dozen eggs and a large loaf of bread.?There were a few slices left over so I threw them in the freezer for the kids to grab for a quick yummy breakfast whenever they want.? Love love leftovers!

6. What kinds of ingredients do you most enjoy sourcing? (local, organic, etc). Why?

I generally shop at the local farm and Trader Joe?s. I do hit BJ?s for the bulk products, but fresh and local is my main preference.

7. Why did you start blogging?

I segued from producing articles for magazines into The Daily Basics two years ago when my company began closing down titles.?Better Homes & Gardens has a Special Issue Publication division that has been pared down and I knew there would be a void in the online marketplace for the content that was no longer being produced.? I just reinvented the magazine delivery in my own way. Hence, you see The Daily Basics and we are still growing!

8. What aspects of blogging and writing do you enjoy the most?

Everything!? I love the social media part of connecting with others online and then getting together with them to meet in real life!? I just finished co-hosting a three day tweetup tent at #Brimfield Antique Market, an event that takes place three times a year event in Brimfield, Massachusetts with 6,000 antique booths.? A few days later I was in Louisville, Kentucky with GEMonogram meeting 19 other fabulous bloggers and cooking professionals!

9. What do you enjoy most about the food blogging scene?

Definitely the people and camaraderie.

10. What advice would you give food bloggers looking to get into the business?

Be unique.? Find a niche where you can shine- don?t do it all.? Our niche is that we are the gateway for the average reader to come and find great food bloggers through our community.? We don?t profess to be a food site, but food is a part of lifestyle and how we live a full and enriched life. That is why it is so important to The Daily Basics.

11. Where are you going from here with your blog, your cooking, your company, etc?

There are so many things we have planned at The Daily Basics for food.? We already started our own recipe file through KitchnMonki.com and Chef Robin White consistently gives us original recipes. We also have The Cocktail Whisperer, Warren Bobrow, who writes about the nuances of different spirits. His drink recipes can only be equated with a fine gourmet recipe in drink form. The guy is amazing.? We do have some major events planned around our food category but I can?t quite say anything more besides wait and see!

12. What is your most memorable cooking experience?

Cooking with my grandmother.?She taught me how to make all my basic staples:?tomato sauces, homemade stocks, ricotta, breads?.

13. What chef do you most idolize?

Frances Mayes for her truth in ingredients AND our Chef Robin White, who always surprises me with her simplicity in ingredients and outrageous combinations.

14. Name one Key Ingredient you always have on hand.

Fresh cheeses.

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