Symposium for Professional Food Writing

If you are looking for words from the wise on writing, I recommend you start with the brilliant William Zinsser, who wrote:

“Writing is not a contest. Every writer is starting from a different point and is bound for a different destination. Yet many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing it better. This can often happen in a writing class.

Inexperienced students are chilled to find themselves in the same class with students whose byline has appeared in the college newspaper. But writing for the college paper is no great credential; I’ve often found that the hares who write for the paper are overtaken by tortoises who move studiously toward the goal of mastering the craft.

The same fear cripples freelance writers, who see the work of other writers appearing in magazines while their own keeps returning in the mail.  Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.”

I adore William Zinsser’s book, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, and require that my students in my Professional Food Writing course purchase it.

If you prefer writing guidance through a course or workshop, I recommend the “granddaddy of all food writing conferences”, The Symposium for Professional Food Writers conference. It is geared for professional food writers and editors only. It is limited to 90 attendees and customarily held at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

A team of successful writers leads discussions and workshops. The next Symposium, the 20th Symposium for Professional Writing is scheduled for September 12-16, 2010.

If money is tight, yet the passion for food writing is strong, you’ll be pleased to know that the Symposium offers scholarships. According to its Facebook page, the Symposium notes:

“We have many scholarships this year with more to be posted soon. The deadline is July 14 so start getting your two best samples ready!”

Note to Readers: Please be sure to check the Symposium for Professional Food Writers for exact deadlines.

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In my food writing class at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), I ask the students to compile a list of 20 food cliches. They then must attach their signature at the end of their work with their promise never to use any of them for as long as we both shall live.

They think this is a funny assignment, that is, until we fall in the trap ourselves. These are ‘accidents waiting to happen’.

In fact, just as we most enjoy the foods we have eaten before, we also find happiness in reading variations of the same detective novels and suspense movies. For instance, the formula for the James Bond movies are all the same:

1. Scene One: exotic location and the first of two beautiful woman appears

2. James Bond (“JB“) encounters villain (who invariably has a foreign accent, a cat and delusions of grandeur)

3. First beautiful woman is sleeping with villain

4. First woman betrays villain just in time to warn JB of impending danger

5. JB seduces first woman, who is immediately killed (horribly but imaginatively)

6. Villain cheats

7. JB  outcheats villain in the company of 2nd woman

8. JB gains entrance to villain’s lair in company with 2nd adoring woman

9. JB is caught and threatened with imaginative but horrible death by villain who offers a lengthy explanation of his plan for world domination

10. JB escapes. 2nd woman escapes

11. JB returns to villain’s lair with monitoring device.

12. Mayhem ensues involving helicopters, fire and many men in jump suits tumbling from high places. Villain dies. Imaginatively but horribly.

13. JB escapes in nick of time; runs; holding hand of beautiful woman

14. James Bond lies with woman in unusual setting as they figure out where to go for dinner.

You’ve heard it all before, but what the heck!

‘Like I was saying…’ food cliches are like junk food: they taste great at the moment, then are immediately followed by remorse and regret.’

If you can complete these cliches, you’ll get an ‘A’ for the exercise and a ‘F’ for original thinking. (Bonus points are given for adding to this list.):

“It’s on the tip of my _____.”

“Bite the ____.” “I’ll bite!”

He said, “Tongue in _____.”

As he ate the last slice of chocolate cake, he remarked, “No pain no ____!”

“Don’t have a cow!”

“He/she is just a meat and ________ person.”

“Bring home the _______.”

“As fresh as a ______.”

“As cool as a ___________.”

“As nutty as a ___________.”

“That’s the way, the __________ crumbles.”

“That’s like walking on ___________.”

“Hey, don’t count your __________ before they’re hatched.”

“What does that have to do with the price of ___ in China?”

“Life is like a box of _________, you don’t know what you’ll get.”

“A few ____ short of a happy meal.”

“There’s no such thing as a free _______.”

“Well, how do you like them _______?”

“Take that with a grain of _____.”*

Now, I, sign your name, promise never to use these hackneyed phrases in a cover letter or in any food writing. (Though nobody is perfect; I’m only human.)

Signature, please!

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Photo courtesy of Justin Bernhaut

Becoming a cookbook reviewer is a great job for a cookbook lover, particularly one, who has gained experience by reading actively. (“Actively,” as opposed to passively, means you have read many books and assembled enough knowledge to enable you to make informed comparisons with similar books in specific genres.)

In a way, you are a first cousin to a restaurant reviewer. Both require you, the critic, to have good taste, an understanding of food and the business, and the ability to write well.

Every critic brings a personal perspective to the task. One judge’s opinion may be swayed by the celebrity of the author, while another my have a bias against celebrity and be seduced by impeccable scholarship.

It is obviously unethical for a vegetarian to pass judgment on a book devoted to grilling steaks.

The marketability and sales potential doesn’t or shouldn’t have any part in the decision making.

Honesty is an imperative.

If an author declares a recipe can be prepared in 15 minutes, the critic must decide whether this feat is true or possible only for an experienced cook and is beyond the realm of reality for a Mom juggling two small children, a telephone, a guest and a glass of wine.

Julia Child’s two volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking survive and thrive because the recipes are masterpieces of accuracy and clarity.

A conscientious cookbook reviewer tests several recipes, and scrutinizes the index to ensure it is composed logically before rendering a final opinion.

Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera by Delores Custer

The reviewer should evaluate the author’s writing style. Top flight authors provide readers with personal stories and enough inspiration that they will want to race to the kitchen immediately.

A cookbook reviewer should evaluate the cost and availability of the cookbook ingredients, and offer an objective view on the overall value of the book itself. Delores Custer’s new book, Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera, is $75.00 (On Amazon, it’s $47.25.) Expensive? Yes. But worth its weight in gold for a professional in this field.

Too many cookbook critics feel their role encompasses the need to inform the reader that their knowledge of a specific cuisine is superior to that of the author. They spend far too much time expressing their own views before getting around to the evaluating the work of the author.

A cookbook writer may have spent years writing a book so it is essential that it receives careful consideration — not the tossing off of a vapid opinion after a desultory flipping of pages and a mere glance at the photographs.

A good cookbook reviewer, (and anyone about to buy the book), should read the author’s introduction. It will provide an effective way to assess the author’s objective and a map to determine if the goal has been scored.

The importance of the concluding paragraph of the cookbook review is surpassed only by that of the opening lines. Don’t let your report stop abruptly as though you had nothing more to say. Your final words let your reader know your opinion decisively. It’s not O.K. to damn it with faint praise. If you want to damn it, damn it! “Boring” is not too strong a word to use.

Even when a book review is afforded a mere 20 words, it can still have significant impact on capturing a reader’s attention. Here are a couple of great examples from Newsweek:

Simple Pleasures by Alfred Portale

“In Fast Food My Way, one of the world’s most honored chefs, PBS star, Jacques Pepin encourages ‘baking’ potatoes in a microwave.”

“In his book, Simple Pleasures, Alfred Portale pares his complex cuisine to the basics. Who knew making roast cod with escargot butter could be this easy?”

The fastest way to get started as a cookbook reviewer is to blog exclusively on the topic of cookbooks. You can ask for review copies from publishers or publicists. You will easily find their addresses online. Eventually you may automatically be placed on their mailing lists.

You must use your own distinctive voice to develop a readership of your own. (The competition online and off is stiff.) But don’t be afraid to say what you think.

Do not heed the advice of E.M. Forster who said, “I don’t know what I think until I hear what I say.”

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