Disclosures & FAQs
Disclosures & Faqs
First of all, thank you very much for your interest in this blog – it really means the world to me! I get a lot of emails and messages via social media on a daily basis pertaining to questions on visiting/living in Dubai, Kolkata or the places that have been mentioned in this blog. There are also many enquiries on possibilities for paid/unpaid collaborations, sponsored posts, media invites, press trips, guest postings etc. I have compiled a list of FAQs below, hopefully it will answer a question that you may possibly have. If however, you have a question that’s not listed here, please feel free to mail me and contact me through the form below. xx Ishita
- About the blog – How did you start this blog? What do you blog about? Why is there so much focus on Dubai & Kolkata?
- Commercials of the blog – Is the blog commercial? Can there be sponsored posts or affiliated links?
- Who can contribute? –
- How do you earn a living?
- Visiting Dubai
- Visiting Kolkata
- Product Review
- Content Copyright
About the blog
Q: How did you start this blog?
A: IshitaUnblogged is my culinary travel blog featuring Dubai, Kolkata & the world beyond. I am obsessed with street food and learning about culinary cultures across the world. I also aspire to travel the world with her family – husband and two daughters – the Z-Sisters, and dreams about writing a book on Bengali cuisine, the kind that can be passed on as a wedding trousseau to my daughters. The culmination of all these ideas, thoughts, dreams and my passion… is this blog. You can read all about me, my idiosyncrasies here, also why and how I started this blog.
Q: What do you blog about?
A: Food! Bengali Food! Dubai! Kolkata! Travelling beyond Dubai & Kolkata! I’ve spent almost two decades in Dubai – the longest stint in any city after Kolkata, the city where I was born. In between, we have made homes in Colombo and Frankfurt. Dubai is currently my adopted home and most of the food posts have been juxtaposed against my Kolkata nostalgia or my living experiences in the UAE. In most of my writings, culture, history, recipes, food stories and nostalgia – even about my childhood in Kolkata, unfold amidst the urban backdrop of Dubai. Hence, sometimes I’ve not been able to clearly demarcate between Dubai and Kolkata posts. All blogposts revolve around the following categories – Recipes, Reviews, Interviews, Food Events and Culinary Travel, click here to read. I have also tried to compile all posts falling under the categories of Dubai here, Kolkata here, and everything I have written beyond Dubai and Kolkata, is listed below. Also to find all the posts written so far, in a chronological manner, click here. Please note that some of my posts have been written as early as 2011 and there could have been changes in the restaurants and places mentioned (some may have shut shop, others have changed location, or simply lost their earlier ethos). Updating more than 300 blogposts can be quite a task… but I am trying to do update/edit as much as I can, so bear with me if there are any inconsistencies in some of my earlier posts!
Q: Why is there so much focus on Dubai & Kolkata?
A: Refer to the above answer again.
Commercials of the blog
Q: Is the blog commercial?
A: The blog started way back in October 2011 as a creative expression for myself, purely out of passion with no commercial intention. Seven years hence, I have built a career out of this passion by co-founding FoodeMag, a food-travel-wellness emagazine and website, which I also edit. Over the years, I have built a lot of credibility on this blog and my emagazine with sheer hard work, honesty, creativity and passion (I repeat the word passion, because that has been, and still is the absolute founding stone of this space). To maintain transparency and authenticity in this blog, I only write about food and travel stories that inspire me and feel will inspire You, my readers. This blog, the media/press trips or the creative campaigns that I have been involved with for my job at FoodeMag, have given me unique opportunities in terms of meeting people and to travel, and if I have shared any of my experiences in this blog, then it has been my sole prerogative to consider to share. In that sense, it’s not entirely a non-commercial blog as it stands currently, as I may have been paid to work with a brand or my trip or dinner may have been hosted. However, the blog is my personal space and I try to maintain it that way as much as I can. Every blogpost has a disclosure at the end.
Q: Can there be sponsored posts or affiliated links?
A: Refer to the above answer too. Be assured, that there are no affiliated links or any indirect promotional ads whatsoever that may distract you from your reading or in trusting my writing. Every blogpost has a disclosure at the end whether it’s a hosted/media/press trip, my bills have been self paid or not – if I have availed any media discounts for my family/myself, if my family/myself have been hosted or whether a brand that I am writing about, is a paid collaboration with FoodeMag.
Who can contribute?
Q: Can there be guest posts?
A: So far, every content – text or visual, that goes into this blog has been created by me, unless otherwise stated. There is no scope for a guest contribution yet, although I do toy with the idea sometimes, only to supplement my own story or content. Please do not pitch with a content idea, I shall come to you if I want you to collaborate with me for a guest post.
Q: Is there a team handling emails and messages?
A: I personally reply to each and every comment that comes my way in this blog or on my social media channels – although, I admit of being guilty of overlooking emails occasionally. I feel that the latter needs a more formal response and I tend to mark them to respond later, only to find them vanishing somehow. Please feel free to nudge again if I haven’t responded to you (please do not WhatsApp unless its an emergency). I am also pretty social with an engaging and a niche audience of 35K+ (94.4% real followers according to the social media igaudit.io), so feel free to connect with me… over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and on YouTube!
