On Wednesday, November 6, three big names in the food journalism industry came to Syracuse University to share their experiences and give students advice about the field in which they specialize. These three speakers were Hugh Merwin, Helen Rosner, and Adam Sachs. Hugh Merwin is the associative editor at the prominent GrubStreet.com, a New York Magazine food and restaurant blog. An editor for Saveur digital magazine, Helen Merwin writes articles that serve as a source for recipes and restaurant reviews. Adam Sachs is the editorial director for tastingtable.com, a widely popular food and restaurant critiquing website. These three journalists talked about a variety of topics, including the rise of food journalism and the writing styles that are necessary to use in order to succeed in this particular field. Each speaker expressed their views on what they think is important about food journalism and what they think that students need to know about writing effective food-based articles.
The speakers made the subject of food and food journalism unique from other forms of journalism by regarding it as a detailed description of an entire sensory experience. They believe that a food journalist’s job is to create an entertaining story for the reader where the most boring part of the article is the food critique itself. When they are looking for the subject of a new article or story, they look for the most compelling story to draw the readers in. That way, they can convey their message and critique the meal or restaurant without making their article boring and lacking creativity. They all agreed that food is an art form. It is actually the most relatable art form for humans because it’s the only art form in which they can ingest. In regards to writing recipes, Adam Sachs described that in order to maintain a wide demographic, you must provide recipes to readers for a variety of events. He emphasized the importance of making sure to include recipes that can be prepared in 15 minutes for those who need to prepare a quality meal quickly and also recipes structured for people looking to host large dinner parties and entertain.
All three speakers talked fondly about the explosion of food journalism and the vast popularity of chefs in pop culture in this day and age. In recent years, food journalism has surpassed many other genres, including fashion, in readership. Helen Rosner believes that this is due to the attainability of food journalism. While magazines like “Vogue” feature clothing that is way too expensive for the average person, food blogs and magazines advertise products that the reader can interact with and reproduce with affordable components. In regards to the newfound popularity of chefs, they all agreed that this was due to the Food Network, social media, and the multiple reality shows on TV that center around famous restaurants or chefs. Through the increased knowledge of various chefs and their cuisine, Rosner and Merwin expressed hope that readers and consumers will expand their knowledge of nutrition and the value of quality balanced meals.
Overall, I did not find this presentation very interesting. Although they offered great advice and insight on the food world and how to succeed food journalism, my minimal interest in this particular field prevented me from fully appreciating it. I thought that the fact that food journalism was so vastly popular was intriguing because I had never heard of their publications. That being said, after their presentations I looked up their articles and appreciated Adam Sach’s techniques in making his editorials focus on the story of the experience itself while mentioning the food in the process. I decided to go to this presentation because it was a topic that I knew little about and was interested in exploring. Although I walked away from the lecture respecting their work and recognizing food journalism as a legitimate force in the industry, I did not form a desire to further explore food journalism as a career option.