Self-confessed foodie Amy Wren, originally from Crosshaven but now living in Barcelona, set up 'Greedygutsfoodblog' on Instagram in 2019 Writes Tara Maher
While studying marketing in college, Amy set up the page as a hobby. "I always took photos of my food and shared them on my personal account, so I eventually decided it might be worth dedicating a page to food pictures," Amy said.
She first began to share restaurant recommendations in Cork. "I think good food can make or break a trip," Amy admitted. She loves to plan and research where she eats and, after, create PDFs to share with friends and family, whether it's a staycation to West Cork or a trip abroad.
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, she had to rethink her content idea since restaurants closed under the lockdown guidelines.
Amy began to post step-by-step recipes for people to make at home. From cocktails to protein balls, Amy posted recipes for everyone.
After graduating, Amy relocated to Barcelona after accepting an offer to work in a sales graduate program and brought her growing blog with her.
Since moving to Barcelona, she continued to post pictures of food from various restaurants "I do eat out a lot as it's very reasonable, and I'm on a mission to try as many restaurants as possible while I'm there. It's a foodie heaven, and I love trying all the different cuisines!".
Shortly after her move, she put the blog on hold. With a new city and a new job, Amy found it hard to keep up with the blog, which had started to become more than just a pastime. Social media slowly began to take over, and she decided to take a break from Instagram. "I didn't have the time to give it one hundred percent and didn't want to do it half-heartedly. I wanted to be more present in Barcelona and focus on doing well in my new role while also settling in the city and making new friends," Amy explained, "I also wanted to spend less time on social media and take a small break from Instagram so that's exactly what I did."
Even though the blog was on hold, Amy continued to take pictures and note all the restaurants she visited in Barcelona and Cork.
She returned to Instagram earlier this year. "I've decided to come back to blogging as I've eaten in some incredible restaurants over the last few years. The timing for me now feels right," Amy said.
Since she last posted, Instagram has changed dramatically. With the constant changing of algorithms alongside the importance of reels and carousels, Amy is dealing with a brand new app but highlighted the importance of keeping the page as a passion project rather than a job, "I have some catching up to do on content creation as a lot has changed on Instagram since I started. With the new introduction of reels and higher quality editing, I'm trying to stay consistent with posting but not put myself under huge pressure to share recipes daily."
Over the years, Amy has eaten in some fantastic restaurants with delicious food, but a few will always leave her wanting more. A lover of seafood, Quinlans in Cork City is top of Amy's list. Since her last visit home, many restaurants have popped up around the city and county, but the one she is dying to try is the award-winning Goldie on Oliver Plunkett Street.
In Barcelona, she constantly recommends the Spanish tapas bar 'El Xampanyet.'
"I do like to cook and bake at home too," Amy added, but she prefers to cook as she believes "it is more flexible and forgiving, baking can be very precise." She is a big fan of The Chef Show on Netflix and has been picking up many tips and tricks. Her favorite dish to make at the moment is chicken and chorizo jambalaya. It is a recipe she stumbled across on BBC Good Food.
Greedyguts is constantly growing, and Amy is falling in love with posting regular content again. Her time in Barcelona is ending, and she is looking forward to returning home at the end of September before she travels to South America and South East Asia early next year.
"I plan to get back to sharing some recipes when I'm home but to focus more on restaurants and then document and share all my food and travel recommendations next year," Amy concluded.
You can follow Amy on Instagram, @greedygutsfoodblog.