Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers

diannejacob

“Find the Story Only You Can Write,” says Carolynn Carreño

by 20 Comments

Carolynn-Carreno

Freelance writer and cookbook collaborator Carolynn Carreño, with her beloved dog Rufus. Do you notice that, like her advice, this photograph tells a story that is uniquely hers?

A brainy freelance writer, high-end cookbook collaborator,  and three-time James Beard journalism award nominee, Carolynn Carreño blogs  atCarolynn Carreno.wordpress.com and the Huffington Post. I tracked her down for this frank and wide-ranging interview about food writing and her own path to success: 

Q. You come across in your bio and writing as a totally food obsessed person.  Did your  writing come from that obsession?

A. Definitely. I had no intention of being a food writer. I started before blogs, and being a food writer was for stuffy old men who worked for Gourmet. I couldn’t relate to a lot of food writing because I thought it was for people who travelled and stayed at fancy hotels.

I was writing mostly for Seventeen magazine, lots of personal essays. Food started to make its way into my stories, through my family. Then I pitched a story about my dad, who had a restaurant, to Colman Andrews at Saveur. He got back to me 13 months later.  He said he was interested in [Read more…] about “Find the Story Only You Can Write,” says Carolynn Carreño

2 Books for Your Holiday Wish List

by 27 Comments

Do you make a list of what to buy friends and family at the holidays? What about your own wish list?

On my desk is a list of names I wrote by hand on a long, yellow lined sheet. I’ve checked off all of them now, which is good because Hanukkah is long gone, and Christmas is a week away.

My personal wish list is new. I started it last year, buying myself one (pricey) book I’ve coveted in December, and vowing to do so every year. In 2012 it was the cookbook Plenty, since I already had Jerusalem, and have been enjoying both ever since.

This month I’ve been lusting for The Most of Nora Ephron, a collection of her work, published posthumously. Ephron was my writing hero: sassy, funny, and so right about women, love, and politics. At $35, it’s a tome, but I bet the pages aren’t as yellowed as her old paperbacks on my shelf. There’s a section on food writing, including [Read more…] about 2 Books for Your Holiday Wish List

Let’s Take the Baby Talk out of Recipes

by 78 Comments

Cute-BabyOh em gee! I am so tired of baby-talk words in recipe writing, especially:

  • Yummy
  • Sammy, and
  • Tummy.

While editing a cookbook manuscript for a publisher, I decided the author must have been a Rachael Ray groupie. How else to explain her use of these three terms, not to mention “easy-peasy” and exclamation points in almost every recipe headnote? At least she didn’t add “Yum-O.” [Read more…] about Let’s Take the Baby Talk out of Recipes

13 Must-Read Links for Food Writers

by 28 Comments

Bagels-Tel-Aviv

Israeli bagels at the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv.

Wondering how to be more effective on social media, how to become a better food photographer, or whether to publish an e-book? You need the top links from my most recent newsletter.

But before you skip down to the list below, please sign up for the Will Write for Food newsletter. It’s free, and best of all, you’ll get only four emails per year. It’s filled with useful info for food writers, bloggers, recipe developers, cookbook authors and social media mavens. The next one’s coming out at the end of December, so sign up now.

1. A scientific guide to writing great headlines on Twitter, Facebook and your Blog. Great tips on how to be more effective on social media, based on writing that grabs people.

2. Along the same lines, read How to Write Compelling Titles for Blogs & Content. I like her [Read more…] about 13 Must-Read Links for Food Writers

Lucky Peach Editor Wants Stories Other Magazines Won’t Run

by 22 Comments

ChrisYing_2013

Lucky Peach editor-in-chief Chris Ying. (Photo by Jami Witek.)

Lucky Peach, the two-year old quarterly that has already won a Beard award, contains personal essays, taste tests, rants, recipes, photo essays, and fiction. But there the resemblance to other food magazines ends.

A recipe might be written in haiku, stories are illustrated in rock poster or tattoo parlor style, and swearing appears often. A feature article might run 20 pages. Josh Ozersky of Time magazine says Lucky Peach is “powered by the fiery ardor and violent attachments of its presiding spirit,” whatever that means.

I disliked Lucky Peach at first because of the overwhelming boy’s club atmosphere, but I do appreciate the irreverence, the new subjects, and the writing quality. So I was thrilled when Lucky Peach editor-in-chief Chris Ying agreed to be interviewed. The former publisher of McSweeney’s, Ying cooked his way through college at fine dining restaurants and Mission Chinese Food:

Q. How did Lucky Peach come about?

Lucky-Peach-Issue-1A. Dave (Chang), Peter (Meehan) and I had met a year before we started Lucky Peach. We worked together on a small project for McSweeney’s, writing about food, and we were looking for a new way to collaborate. Peter and Dave came up with a curated, single-subject user-driven TV show/ap, but we ended up collecting way too much info, so they thought, ‘What if we could also make a literary food journal?’

The app didn’t pan out, but we made the magazine, and it’s become our mainstay. Dave and Peter have been editors, developing themes, content, what to cover, and assignments.

Q. Are David Chang and Peter Meehan still involved?

A. Peter and I are basically partners. Peter is running the magazine, assigning the stories. I make more magazine-y decisions, like where things appear, what to cover, and assigning [Read more…] about Lucky Peach Editor Wants Stories Other Magazines Won’t Run

Male Food Writers Promoting Male Chefs

by 54 Comments

Time-Gods-Of FoodIf you’ve read the news on who’s a top US chef, they are all men, according to a male food editor and a male restaurant critic.

Two features stirred the wrath of many: a cover story on “The Gods of Food” in Time magazine; and a list of Rising Stars from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Eater interviewed the Time magazine food editor about why female chefs did not appear, and here is his reply:

“We discussed that for a while, we actually thought about it. We wanted to name a couple. Another reality: none of them have a restaurant that we believe matches the breadth and size and basically empire of some of these men that we picked. They have the reputation and all that and it’s an unfortunate thing. The female chef is a relatively recent phenomenon, except for Alice who has been around for a long time. None of them have the recent breadth that these guys have.”

Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer offered this defense of his choices in a follow-up piece (in 2011, the first time he chose only male chefs — and this is his 4th year running), saying [Read more…] about Male Food Writers Promoting Male Chefs

100 Verbs for Recipes, from Julia Child

by 96 Comments

image for post on 100 verbs from Julia Child.You’re sick of writing “add” and “place” in recipes, aren’t you? (If not, you should be.)

Here’s help. Use some of Julia Child’s verbs. I spent a pleasurable hour reading through Mastering the Art of French Cooking to [Read more…] about 100 Verbs for Recipes, from Julia Child