Food Writer

[OasisBeatle]

Hello!

In February I will be attending THe Restaurant SChool as a Pastry Arts Major. I've had many ideas what to do with my education, such as open a bakery or work in a test kitchen, but I have always enjoyed writing and journalism. Does anyone know what is required to be a food writer for say, a magazine like Cooking Light or Bon Appetite? Any advice would be helpful, thanks!

Oh. sorry if this is the wrong section

[sugarchef]

I too have always loved to write and after 12+ years of cooking professionally decided to try to steer my career in the direction of food writing. It is a very competitive field, and people come at it from different angles. It seems like a journalism background helps, but so does experience as a cook. I recommend the book "Will Write for Food" by Dianne Jacob to give you an overview of all the options. It's a good point of reference. Also any of Ruth Reichl's food memoirs are great reads and give insight into the field.

[OasisBeatle]

Thank you very much for taking the time to give me advice ! I will definately check out those books, much luck to you in the future!

[Suzanne]

Sometimes I fear that one needs more tenacity than talent.

Dianne Jacobs's book is indeed a great help. But the main thing you need first is to read, read, read!!! Read good cookbooks; read good writers such as MFK Fisher, Jeffrey Steingarten, Michael Ruhlman, James Beard. And read the magazines you think you want to get into, lots and lots of issues, to get a feel for their style and the articles they have already published over the last few years. The latter is very important because you don't want to pitch them something they just ran within the last year or two, unless your take on it is completely different. Many publications will take articles from freelancers, but it is very hard to get your foot in the door. You have to have an idea that you can pitch to them. And there's a Catch-22: to get published, you usually need a set of clippings of stuff you've already published.

If you're in Philadelphia, you might see if you can come up to NY for mediabistro's session on December 18 from 6:30 to 9:30 on breaking into food writing. And in January and February, David Leite, of Leite's Culinaria, a James Beard award-winning site, will be teaching an online course on food writing at mediabistro. I know David, and think he's great (he's certainly successful!), and mediabistro seems a pretty good organization -- I've only been to one event and never taken a course, but their roster is impressive.

[MISNO]

"...Sometimes I fear that one needs more tenacity than talent... "

I think this statement is true for 90% of the food critics and writers out there.