Writing About Food

[Chris Hennes]

On well-know food writer Michael Ruhlman's blog he's got a piece up called "On Food Writing" in which he addresses the question, "I want to write about food, I want to be a food writer—how do I begin? What do I do?"

Much of Ruhlman's advice is not really specific to food writing: it would apply as well to someone writing about, say remodeling a house, or building a wooden boat.

Read continually, look outward rather than inward, and do all you can to convey your own passions directly and honestly and completely to strangers.

Good advice, nevertheless. Still, I'm wondering if anyone out there has any advice on food writing specifically. Thoughts on how to start? Subjects to avoid? How do you communicate your love and in-depth knowledge of food to an audience without boring or alienating them?

[ChefAnnette]

Like good cooking, good food writing requires a lot of love for the words (the food), as well as for the consumer (the reader)... you must want to bring pleasure. Take your reader on a sensual journey, not a trip through your personal thesaurus of food-related adjectives.

That's my 2-cents... hoping I learn to take my own advice!

[Busboy]

Might I suggest that far too many people writing about food get bogged down in endless Wine-Advocate-like adjective-overload descriptions of every single dish, turning what might be an enjoyable read or review into something akin to flipping through a catalog. A word or two, an image or impression, maybe a focus on one unique aspect or technique and move on.

[Fat Guy]

I'm not sure there is a tremendous amount of top-level advice specific to food. The subject you're writing about is a detail.

If you want to be a professional writer, there are really two components: 1- the actual writing, and 2- the business aspects of writing. Of those the latter is much more important, because there are plenty of successful writers who don't write all that well.

With respect to 1- the actual writing, there are many ways to write well, and most specific guidance is not going to apply to everybody.

With respect to 2- the business aspects of writing, there are many paths. If you can score an entry-level position at a place like Gourmet then that's one way. If you can develop yourself as a non-food journalist, you can perhaps eventually transition into food (this is how the past two New York Times restaurant reviewers have happened). If you're coming from outside the journalism business, your best bet is probably to get yourself some exposure and audience online, through a blog, heavy participation in online communities, or most helpful a combination of both plus social networking and real networking.

[JAZ]

Back in the early days of the eGCI, David Leite did a class on Food Writing. Although most of it is about breaking into the field, some of it is about the writing process itself.

One excellent point he makes is to learn to write a grammatical sentence. Too many food writers seem so enthralled with the subject matter that they forget about the underlying structure.

[Peter the eater]

How do you communicate your love and in-depth knowledge of food to an audience without boring or alienating them?

Write about what you know and love in as few words as possible.

[Magictofu]

As an avid reader, my main advice to anyone who wants to become a food writer would be to develop your own style, a style that fits the niche you want to create for yourself.

So many writers/journalists change their style of writing according to the topic they are covering (often copying the major authors in that field) instead of approaching a topic with their own voice or more accurately the voice they developed for themselves.

Readers need to recognize an author, her approach and personality. Content is one thing, technical skill is another... but an identifiable style is also key.

The fact that this topic was started with a quote from Ruhlman is interesting because he is someone who was able to create a voice for others as well as himself in the various books he wrote or co-wrote. This is rare and hard to do without causing some confusion with the readers.

Other people have developed themselves into characters. I like to think that I know Anthony Bourdain from reading his books but I am well aware that I know very little about him and that the little I know was purposefully placed in front of me for the sole purpose of creating a particular narrator for the stories I am reading. If he wanted to write romance novels, I am sure he would have presented another side of his persona.

Without a specific style/character/viewpoint to offer, readers won't seek you, they will only seek content... which you can probably offer but almost any competent writer can also offer good content given the right circumstances and hence replace you at your dream job at the New-York Times or Gourmet.

[Holly Moore]

Want to write, start writing. That is sometimes the toughest step for an aspiring writer - actually taking fingers to keyboard and writing.

eGullet is a terrific incubator for novice food writers. Plenty of opportunity to write and, wonderfully, there is visual proof in the thread continuations that people are actually reading and reacting to what you have written. Keep posting. The more one writes the smoother it should become.

Edited to add: Keep editing. The more rewrites the better.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Holly Moore (log)

[rconnelly]

On well-know food writer Michael Ruhlman's blog he's got a piece up called "On Food Writing" in which he addresses the question, "I want to write about food, I want to be a food writer—how do I begin? What do I do?"

Much of Ruhlman's advice is not really specific to food writing: it would apply as well to someone writing about, say remodeling a house, or building a wooden boat.

Read continually, look outward rather than inward, and do all you can to convey your own passions directly and honestly and completely to strangers.

Good advice, nevertheless. Still, I'm wondering if anyone out there has any advice on food writing specifically. Thoughts on how to start? Subjects to avoid? How do you communicate your love and in-depth knowledge of food to an audience without boring or alienating them?

←

Develop a thick skin.

Criticism happens. It can be a great learning tool.

[violetfox]

On well-know food writer Michael Ruhlman's blog he's got a piece up called "On Food Writing" in which he addresses the question, "I want to write about food, I want to be a food writer—how do I begin? What do I do?"

Much of Ruhlman's advice is not really specific to food writing: it would apply as well to someone writing about, say remodeling a house, or building a wooden boat.

Read continually, look outward rather than inward, and do all you can to convey your own passions directly and honestly and completely to strangers.

Good advice, nevertheless. Still, I'm wondering if anyone out there has any advice on food writing specifically. Thoughts on how to start? Subjects to avoid? How do you communicate your love and in-depth knowledge of food to an audience without boring or alienating them?

←

Adjectives are not your friends.

Start by writing. A lot. All the time. Show your work only to those who are trustworthy for this sort of thing - not well-meaning but clueless relatives, friends, bloggers...

After you've written something, put it away. Go back later, read it, edit it.

No jargon, ever.

Assume the general intelligence of your audience - I like the idea of writing for a well-informed but not expert audience.

Most advice on food writing, I imagine, is also good advice on writing, period. That said, a lot of the best nonfiction writing that I see happens to be food writing. I'm fascinated by this and have no idea why it's true.

Great topic, thank you!

[Chris Amirault]

Lots of good advice here. I'd add the following.

Have a hook, a point, a reason not for writing but for having someone else read your writing. "Read how much I love food" isn't a hook; it's self-indulgence. In case you forget to have a hook, just contact an editor, who will immediately demand one and make you feel like a moron for lacking it.

Think about structure. Most of the articles that I've written have had three or four distinct sections, and they keep me focused and on point. Know where you want your reader to go and go there.

Have a voice. The world of food writing does not need yet another sappy, sentimental describer of local this or delectable that. Have opinions and state them -- but try not to turn into a UK food critic, please, for my sake.

At the same time, be suspicious of simplistic moralism and manichean world views: they are tantalizingly easy perspectives to embrace and even easier to write. Little in the world of food is plainly good or evil. Right now, there are a lot of armchair ethicists who really like telling us what to eat and how to think. Please don't join them.

Read outside your comfort zone. MFK Fisher has some really nasty pieces worth hunting down. David Foster Wallace’s “Consider the Lobster” should be mandatory reading for all food writers, love it or hate it. Identify characteristics you like and don't like and think about your own writing in this regard.

Give your stuff to other people and ask them specific questions about it. What is the point? What were strong sentences or paragraphs? What's weak? What could be cut? What else could be cut? No, really, what else can be cut?

Finally, remember these words, attributed to Gene Fowler (though I swear Faulkner said it first):

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

[youngchef11]

Wit respect to 2- the business aspects of writing, there are many paths. If you can score an entry-level position at a place like Gourmet then that's one way. If you can develop yourself as a non-food journalist, you can perhaps eventually transition into food (this is how the past two New York Times restaurant reviewers have happened). If you're coming from outside the journalism business, your best bet is probably to get yourself some exposure and audience online, through a blog, heavy participation in online communities, or most helpful a combination of both plus social networking and real networking.

Thats really great advice, but do you know any other ways to be involved in food wriing, more specifically, to citique?

[Fat Guy]

Those seem to be the primary available paths. I'm sure there are others but it tends to be either 1- you get an entry-level position at a periodical or in publishing, 2- you're already in the field and you transition to food, or 3- you start out independently online or through self publishing.

[John Rosevear]

As a professional (not food) writer, I'll say that the comment about practicing writing and learning the business is absolutely spot-on. If you want to be a writer, you should write -- often (like daily), for an audience -- a blog is the perfect way to do that. At the same time, a blog is a lousy way to try to make a living -- but a good blog can serve as a springboard for a paying gig, because the first thing a buyer of writing will want to see is your other published work.

There will always be a market for high-quality, professional nonfiction writing from a knowledgeable source -- all of those web pundits saying that "content is king" are talking about us. The trick with food writing, as with so many other love-driven subjects, is that there are many more aspirants than there are paying gigs, and many of the other folks can write quite well. That's why knowing the business, knowing how to query, knowing where the markets are and what they want and being willing and able to give them what they want in a polished way are all so important -- those things are what separate the dreamers (even the talented ones) from the working pros.

[roosterchef21]

I've managed to get into Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) at university. I was thinking I might start a blog on my experiences in the course, getting an internship and then a job and what I did to get there. This would all depend on family and work commitments as well as the study workload. Would anyone be interested in this if I do decide to start a blog? Not much point doing it if no one would be interested and I can focus on university.

As a background, I'm a former chef at the beginning of a career change. I'm a little bit sick of kitchens, with the poor working conditions and bad attitudes that come with it. I don't mind the hard work - in fact I quite enjoy it - but I am now looking at a career with better pay relative to the hours I work. I'm also looking forward to seeing my family more often (i.e again). I moved at the end of last year, and felt it was a good time for me to make the step while still maintaining my love and passion for food, wine and travel. I'd been thinking about leaving the industry for a good two years, after missing a number of important family events over an 18 month period. I really want to be a food & travel writer, not so much a critic, but Bill Bryson meets Lonely Planet. I'd like to travel, writing articles about my experiences in hotels, sights, restaurants and producers, as well as wineries. I'd like to give people tips on places to go for all budgets with my own personal spin on it. At least that's the plan.

[maggiethecat]

When I was Editorial Director of "The Daily Gullet" this was my boilerplate for aspiring writers. I think it all applies. But I understand what Steven is saying: writing is only 40% of the task.

To whit:

If you’re submitting something for The Daily Gullet, you know your subject. What I want to hear is your voice.

Here are a few tips, which I’ve absorbed via Fowler, White and King. (The money you spend on Steven King’s “On Writing” will be the best bucks you’ll spend as a writer. I don’t like his novels but as a teacher he’s nonpareil.) Unless you’re the Gerard Manley Hopkins of food writing, these three tips will improve your stuff and reinforce your voice. Lagniappe for me: Use them and you’ll spare this lazybones editor a dreary line edit.

1)You get one adverb per thousand words, and yes, I count. If you’re using an adverb, surely you’re not using the best verb. (See?)

2)Use contractions. In your day to day voice you don’t say: “Do not worry, Babe. I will pick up a bunch of scallions.” You say: “Don’t worry, Babe. I’ll pick up a bunch of scallions.” So, no “She had” instead of She’d.” No “He would” instead of “He’d.” Think about it.

3)You get one conditional per two thousand words. No “ barelys,” “of courses” or “in other wordses.” Conditionals are a cop-out, quite generally almost always.

How easy is that? Not. I run a red pencil through my own first drafts, contracting and tossing. I’m glad I do, because the page reads better, and forces me to talk like me. I want to hear your voice, prissy or dirty, cynical or wide-eyed, sardonic or sweet. And, as I said, I’m lazy.

[chezjim]

There is one simple thing far too few writers do which can make all the above rules intuitively apparent: read every page out loud. I self-publish books and do this, quite literally, for every page, even (most recently) for a 300-page book (and at that, of course, I find missing words, etc., later).

Your ear will tell you quickly what you need to change. But trying to "fake" this by reading under your breath or silently to yourself too easily allows you to "cheat". Out loud means out loud (OK, maybe out medium, if you have modulation issues.)

As for being a food writer specifically, I suppose I am that, officially enough. Aside from my various self-published projects, I have an academic essay out on the subject and am waiting for the official announcement of another project to which I contributed in some significant ways. But that raises the question of whether people who want to be food writers want to just be columnists (I'm not) or food critics (nope) or want to write (as I do) on food history, for instance. Or would someone like me be called a "food historian" as opposed to some famous writers on food in magazines and newspapers (whose "history", alas, is often pure myth, but is also what far more people are likely to read)?

At any rate, good writing is good writing and certainly any writer should learn it (and read it as much as possible - Willa Cather's a great place to go for lessons in style). Your subject should be something you care about, your voice should be freed rather than created and as for outlets and starting points, these days, that's what blogs are for.

[Pam Brunning]

Some excellent recommendations from both Maggie and Jim. If only a few more writers would hede the advice.

May I add a writer should always remember the first and formost job is to hold the readers attention and entertain. Young, newly qualified wine 'experts' are a nightmare - they don't know how to lighten up. They can bore the pants off the most avid wine lover.

Edited June 6, 2010 by Pam Brunning (log)