A Conversation With ATL Foodie, Hungry Homegirl
The Brown Girl With A Big Appetite!
Atlanta, dubbed America’s “Black Hollywood” because of the steady growth of talent in the film, music, and beauty industries, has quickly become one of the country’s hotspots for food as well. With popular black-owned restaurants like Slutty Vegan and Pashal’s , people from all over flock to ATL to get a plate of good southern cuisine.
We sat down with one of our favorite food bloggers, born and raised right in the Peach State, Hungry Homegirl. Marrying both personality and a big appetite, Tailor speaks about where her love for food began, the business of being a food blogger, and where she plans to go next!
Read the full interview transcript below.
Good Look Media: So, are you born in raised in Atlanta?
Hungry Homegirl: Yea! I moved to Decatur later on, but initially, we lived in the Sandy Springs area.
GLM: Sandy Springs? Oooh yall got money!
HH: *laughs* Literally Usher lived in my apartment complex. It was like before Atlanta became super expensive, I was a baby but like we shared with the same apartment complex with him, he was already famous, but if we could afford the same apartment as him you know it wasn’t that expensive LOL
GLM: That’s so cool tho!
HH: Yea it was lol, but then we moved to the east side, we moved to Decatur, and I was basically raised there.
GLM: Gotcha. So growing up was food something that was a staple? How did you get into creating food content? Was that something that stemmed from your childhood?
HH: How I started my food blog was kind of random and it stemmed from me just trying restaurants all the time, being on the go when I worked at a corporate job a couple of years ago.
People at work would be like, “Where did you go?” “What did you do this weekend?” “How did you know about this restaurant?” I always just posted my food, it was just natural. I never looked at a food blogging page before, I didn't know what I was doing! So it kind of fell in my lap honestly and I remember asking my coworker, I was like, “how does the name ‘hungry homegirl’ sound?” and she was like, “Oh, that’s corny” LOL
GLM: It’s really not tho!
HH: *laughs* I was just like perfect though because if you think that it’s corny or something, for me… I was always the oddball anyway so I was like if somebody comes by and says ‘oh that’s lame’, I was like, I’m gonna stick to that! I don’t want anything traditional. Later on, everybody fell in love with the name. I went and trademarked all of my stuff!
Growing up though, I used to look forward to going out to eat when I was younger on Sundays after church. It was like the highlight of my week! Or other occasions like going out for dinner for a family member’s birthday. So now it’s like, I can go out to eat anytime I want to you know, LOL it’s just it’s always been like that. That’s always been a passion, but it’s hard being a food blogger because eating all of this food and staying in shape!
*shares laugh*
GLM: Yes! Staying fit is hard! I saw on your Instagram that you were at The Garden Room, the reservations there are like two months out! So how do you get into these exclusive places? Do these restaurants reach out to you, or do you reach out to them, or are you just making your reservations in advance?
HH: This really just depends on the blogger and what you’re trying to do. Sometimes I go as a guest, like if you just walk into a restaurant and sit down and eat- I love that because I feel like it’s more authentic. But The Garden Room for sure is one of those places that you definitely have to make a reservation for! I got it through my friend who had the reservation who was not able to go so she gave it to me.
GLM: Lucky! So how do you decide where to go next? How do you decide what restaurant you want to visit, which one you’d want to review, how do you decide that?
HH: Basically it’s just whatever I’m in the mood for. If I’m in the mood for crab legs or something, I’ll look and find a place. Sometimes restaurants have already reached out to me like months in advance so I have that on the calendar and so yea, it’s really just a mixture of everything.
GLM: Your top three restaurants, no brainer. Don’t think too hard! Top three, top three top three!
HH: So number one is Arnette’s Chop Shop in Brookhaven, love love their restaurant! Number two right now my favorite is Virgil’s on Main Street.
GLM: I’ve heard of them!
HH: Yea my family is from Charleston and the restaurant is centered around the Gullah culture. My third would be Red Crab House in Snellville. It’s literally my favorite place for seafood. I go there every single Friday. I know that sounds bad but every Friday LOL
GLM: Girl we love a good seafood boil so I understand! During quarantine did you cook a lot? What was your favorite dish to make when we were locked down?
HH: Um, my favorite was definitely stuffed chicken. And I also like pasta, I make it with vodka sauce and put a little bit of shrimp in it… I’m very basic! I don’t like being in the kitchen LOL
GLM: Do you have any food bloggers or influencers that you follow and admire?
HH: I do enjoy Atlanta Food Guy because he’s been doing it for a long time, like a long long long time. And I always say like he was a foodie before the trend, so just seeing him grind like that, I enjoy his content. He’s not only a food blogger, but he’s also like a content creator and does visual strategy as well.
GLM: That's dope! So what’s next for the Hungry Homegirl? Where do you see your platform going, or what is the ultimate goal for you in this niche?
HH: This is not my everyday job, but eventually I do want to turn this passion into my full-time career. I’ve been setting small goals for myself to grow and learn as much as I can. I’m also a content strategist as well, I learn social media platforms so as technology continues to grow, I want to continue to grow my brand through technology, and then eventually be able to help other brands as well.
I’m also about to add limited edition merch to my brand. Eventually, I’ll start adding packages for restaurants, small businesses, and a lot of places that don’t have a “scan menu”, I can design one from scratch, help them publish one… flyer designs, things like that. A lot of restaurants are still using paper menus so I’d love to just help with that.
GLM: See, the demand is already there, girl you got this! Now that’s a good look! Thank you so much for speaking with us today; we can't wait to watch the Hungry Homegirl brand grow!
