Sylvia Fountaine a finalist in Saveur’s 2018 Blog Awards

A Spokane food blogger, photographer and former chef is a finalist for Saveur’s 2018 Blog Awards.

Sylvia Fountaine, who co-founded Mizuna in downtown Spokane and used to write a monthly Food column for The Spokesman-Review, is a finalist for her blog, “Feasting at Home.”

Fountaine is one of six finalists in the “Most-Inspired Weeknight Dinners” category.

Saveur received more than 23,000 nominations in 11 categories for this year’s awards. Just 66 made it to the finalist round.

Fountaine, a former caterer and restaurant owner, focuses on simple, veggie-forward, seasonal recipes. Many of her recipes are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo or pescatarian. And they’re often also ethnic-inspired and easily adaptable.

“Even though I had a vegetarian restaurant for 10 years and often eat vegan during the week, I’m not strictly vegan or vegetarian - and I’m married to a wonderful carnivore, Brian. Often I’ll adapt our meals so he can have meat, and I can keep mine vegetarian - one meal, two ways,” Fountaine writes on her blog.

Fountaine was raised in Los Angeles by a Finnish mother and Egyptian father, and influences from both areas of the world show up in her cooking, such as her Finnish cardamom rolls and an Egyptian okra dish. In The Spokesman-Review, she highlighted a different ingredient every month, from chocolate to beets.