That Writer's Question Again

[SWoodyWhite]

Russ, I'll be missing your column in the Food section of the LA Times when I move to Delaware later this month. Your work has been a pleasure to look forward to every Wednesday. Yeah, sure, I'll be able to catch up on-line, but that isn't the same as opening up the paper and finding your words in good, solid ink.

So, I'll put to you the same question I posed to Tom Sietsema when he was in the proverbial hot seat: Which food writers do you enjoy and admire yourself? Role models, mentors, current rivals, in newspapers or elsewhere, the whole gamut? Which writers top your list?

[russ parsons]

In the introduction to my book ("How to Read a French Fry" now out in paper and available at bookstores near you [was that blatant enough?]), I said that writers are magpies and will steal from anyone. I believe that quite firmly. That said, and taking a deep breath because I know I'll leave someone out, here are the people I never miss: Janet Fletcher in the SF Chronicle, Amanda Hesser and Johnny Apple in the "other Times", Candy Sagon in the Washington Post (she and I were on staff together at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal 25 years ago!), Jeff Steingarten in Vogue and Colman Andrews in Saveur. Those are teh regularly appearing writers, even after being in the food writing biz 20 years, I'm still amazed at how I can pick up a copy of Gourmet (for one example) and find an amazing writer I've never heard from before.

As for role models and mentors ... I guess No. 1 would have to be Ruth Reichl who hired me at the Times and was the first big-deal food person who believed I had something to contribute. Michalene Busico, the current editor, is probably the best line editor I've ever worked with. It's scary that she sometimes understand my writing better than I do. Madeleine Kamman was a great inspiration to me when I started writing. I took a professional class with her and it opened my eyes to a whole set of a stories I hadn't thought of before. The same with Paula Wolfert, when she told me I'd led her to rethink something she was cooking, that was as high a praise as I've ever had. Phyllis Richman befriended me when I was at the ABQ Tribune and has been like the big sister I never had, always completely supportive and yet very direct in her criticism (a Phyllis "uh-huh" is usually more damning than a couple of pages from anyone else). Deb Madison has been a friend for more than 20 years and was very important in my finding my cooking style. And, of course, The Big Role Model, Julia, who is a constant source of instruction in how to live a happy, involved and contributing life no matter what the age.

Jeez, that's beginning to sound like an Oscar speech. Maybe I'd better quit now.