019: Emilie Raffa | The Clever Carrot

Emilie Raffa shares simple, stress-free, whole-food recipes for the busy home cook. She founded The Clever Carrot food blog in 2012 to document her journey towards a more healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Growing up, the meals Emilie Raffa’s family enjoyed were centered around fresh ingredients and little to no processed food. They bought local. Cooked from scratch. Ate good bread with every meal. The Clever Carrot is a blog about finding balance in what you eat and how you cook.

And if there’s a way to make your life easier, Emilie has found (and shares) the shortcut!

In 2006, Emilie graduated from the International Culinary Center (formerly known as the French Culinary Institute) where she earned a degree in Classic Culinary Arts. She loved every minute of culinary school and writes, she “could’ve stayed there forever! It was an incredible experience.”

After graduation, Emilie went on to work as a private chef, recipe developer, food stylist, and behind the scenes on cooking shows. Eventually, she became curious about blogging and photography.

Since starting The Clever Carrot, Emilie’s work has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Redbook Magazine, Clean Eating, Women’s Health Magazine, The Huffington Post, Food 52, Saveur, Food & Wine, Today Food, and in the pages of Artful Blogging Magazine. She was a finalist for ‘Best Food Photography’ in the annual the Saveur Blog Awards and she contributes to the digital cooking publication, feedfeed.

Emilie considers herself fortunate to be a published author. She has written two cookbooks: The Clever Cookbook and Artisan Sourdough Made Simple.

On a personal note, Emilie lives on Long Island with her husband and their two little boys. They have a little garden, lots of backyard animals, a fig tree, and love spending time in nature.

Emilie is inspired by everything. She tends to create recipes based on her Mediterranean background, her family’s recipes, and her travels. Even her cat. And if you ask what’s in her shopping cart, it’s filled to the brim with olive oil, lemon, fresh herbs, and good bread (possibly a child, too!).

Emilie Raffa Show Notes

Contact:
The Clever Carrot
Instagram

Books:
This post contains affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you click the link and buy something. You can read my disclosure here.
The Clever Cookbook – Emilie Raffa
Artisan Sourdough Made Simple – Emilie Raffa
Jamie at Home – Jamie Oliver

Questions:
What did you do before you started food blogging?
So working at the boutique, they just sold olive oil?
Isn’t it so annoying that they can do that?
How long did it take between getting laid off and starting your website?
How did you pick the name of your blog?
Is there a significance to ‘carrot’?
When you first started, how many times a week did you publish a post?
How many do you publish now?
Do you feel that your readers have stepped up, like you have more of them now that you post once a month, or how do you feel that it has played out?
Once you started, how long did it take you to start making money?
Do you earn your money mow by sponsored posts?
Did you join an influencer network, or did you reach out to brands yourself?
Do you have anybody that helps you with your company?
How many hours a day do you think you work on your blog?
Other food bloggers?
Do you belong to a network or group, how did you find them?
How many iterations of the website have you had?
What do you mean by template?
What do you think is the hardest thing about food blogging?
Is that your favorite social media platform?
Do you do your own SEO?
What is your biggest food failure?
What was your last one, what were you making?
What is your favorite cuisine?
What is the one thing you can’t live without in your kitchen?
What’s your favorite cookbook?
When you first started your food blog, did you have a plan mapped out?
Was it self published or did you have a publisher?
Did you end up doing a book tour?
Do you have more than one book?
Did you have a book tour with the second book?