Pam Parseghian, Food Person Profiler

If you read Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), you’ve been treated to my friend, Pamela “Pam” Parseghian’s marvelously thorough, well researched chronicles of the food industry. But it is her spot on profiles of legendary food figures I want to tell you about.

You see, Pam practices a lost art. When she profiles a famous foodie for publication – which she does often – she follows a detective’s path of inquiry. She does her homework before the interview, and then, once with the subject, listens attentively. Such careful listening is essential to capturing someone’s voice and meaning.

Pam decided early on that she she wanted to be a cook. She enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and then worked at a restaurant in Switzerland for a year. “Gradually,” she revealed, “I began to think about finding a job that was less physically demanding. I became interested in journalism.”

Cook's Illustrated magazine, 2011

She called several publications after she returned to the United States and ended up writing an article for Cook’s Illustrated magazine. The article was such a hit that Pam was invited to apply for a food editor’s job there that was open at the time. Pam adds that then-editor Judith Hill “interested in me because I had trained in an European restaurant and I had a degree from the CIA”

Eventually Pam applied for a job at NRN. With this job, she was able to travel to many exotic locations to cover the subject of food. However, this wasn’t often the case when profiling famous foodies:

“I don’t usually make a special journey to visit the person who is being profiled. Instead I try to arrange a meeting when they are in New York or we on the phone,” reports Pam. “I spend about a quarter of my time doing research and another quarter doing the interview; the remaining half of the time is spent actually writing and editing. Other people may allocate their time differently. Writing on deadline is the hardest part of the job. Even a seemingly straightforward interview requires more of the writer than the surface result would indicate.”

I, for one, applaud Pam’s career changing decision to put down the mighty wisk for the pen (and the laptop). May she write (and edit) evermore, evermore.

Now CLASS, pay attention!

It is a very, very bad idea to write an article and then try to find somebody (anybody) to publish it. This is not the way the system works.

The real first step is to identify the publication you want to pitch. This means you must put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and do some serious research. Read at least six back issues (you can find in the library or online), so you can be sure your idea is appropriate for the magazine you have in mind and a similar subject has not been recently covered.

In other words, don’t propose an article on Hearty Winter Stews for Dessert Professional magazine or the best way to grill steaks for a vegetarian magazine or Tea Houses of Tokyo for Edible Hudson Valley. Don’t suggest an article on Summer Fruit Soups if that topic was covered three months ago.

Examine every advertisement in your target publication so you have a clear picture of its readership profile: if the magazine ads lean towards costly jewels, wildly expensive perfume and luxury cars, an article on the joys of living on $5 a week won’t be a good fit.

Each magazine has its own distinctive style. Cook’s Illustrated is all about cooking techniques, Food & Wine is devoted to food and wine. It won’t be even mildly interested in homemade organic dog food or baby food.

You must decide what the magazine does and doesn’t do. Bon Ap doesn’t do food politics. Every May is devoted to foreign food. July is barbecue. Thanksgiving is, O.K. (November), you guessed correctly.

Once you have identified your desired partner, you must dance to its music and speak in its voice; formal or chatty, first person singular or the royal “we.”

Each page in each issue conforms to an established design. Don’t suggest a 3,500 word treatise on childhood obesity to a magazine that doesn’t customarily devote space to this or a similar advocacy topic. The publication won’t add another eight pages to accommodate your writing no matter how brilliant it is. It covers only predetermined departments.

So with all this information firmly in hand, make a copy for your files. Do not expect anyone to return your hard work.

Crafting the Query Letter

Remind yourself that the purpose of your query letter is to interest the food or features editor in your idea. Ready?

• Keep your query letter short.
• Introduce yourself: e.g., I am the executive chef at the White House.
• Explain your idea in one sentence: I will describe the food served at the President’s daughter’s wedding.
• Explain briefly the history of previous events you have covered: brunches for the bereaved, inaugural parties, cabinet meeting lunches.
• Offer six sample recipes and two writing samples

Mail your proposal to the appropriate editor. You will find her or his name on the masthead. It’s essential to spell the name correctly (I received a letter addressed to Ilona Chompers. I did not respond.)

Here’s a sample letter so you can see what I mean.

April 15th, 2012

Marta Stallforth
Food Editor
The Daily Blast
100 Paradise Lane
Utopia, KS 11111

Dear Ms. Stallforth:

I have been reading your magazine for several years, and I’ve noticed you are interested in celebrity functions. Last January, I was appointed to the position of White House executive chef.  Would you be in interested in an article about the food that will be served for 5,000 guests at the wedding of the President’s daughter?  I have obtained permission from the State Department to publish this information.

I have been a freelance writer for several years. My work has been published in XXX, XXX and XXX magazines. I am enclosing six recipes and two writing samples.

I will call you at 3 P.M. next Wednesday to see if you are interested in my proposal.

Yours sincerely,

Max Amillion

mmmgood@boilingpot.com.

Send it and the query letter by regular mail on beautiful stationery.

Make sure every word is spelled correctly. You may receive an almost immediate phone call saying, “YES PLEASE!”

If not, wait two weeks. Call the editor. If you are told she is not available, call again. If she is not available when you call again, don’t call again. You have already received the answer. It is “NO.”

Move on. Knock on another door. There is an editor who is looking for you.

Next Wednesday, I’ll write about that mysterious thing called Voice.

Without a compelling food idea we tend to procrastinate, hoping a brilliant notion will suddenly hit us on the head — and sometimes it does. A more reliable method of producing a regular stream of thoughts for food articles or blog postings is simply keeping notes about everything that piques our interest.

This means keeping your eyes and ears open to everything that is happening around you. For example, today there is a lot of talk about salt.

Mark Kurlansky wrote an entire book on the subject of salt. Two handfuls of fleur de sel in a fancy container is selling for more than the steak. You may want to jump in and share your opinion about the heated discussion of reducing salt in processed foods and restaurant meals.

I think I could make a case to suggest that unless there is a compelling medical indication to reduce the quantity of salt we are eating, we should just be happy God gave us kidneys. (This kind of unsolicited opinion is sure to ruffle some indignant feathers.)

Food writers are rather like character actors. We must decide which role makes us most comfortable. Food science writers are hopeless about writing airy, fairy descriptions of the arrival of the first baby carrots of spring. Those who like facts and figures will have a difficult time writing an evocative restaurant review. Food humorists are impatient with the precision of recipe writing.

A single subject such as salt (or apples) can be handled in literally dozens of ways from the perspective of a nutritionist; a food historian; a fisherman; a chef; a food exporter or importer; a folklorist or a journalist. Each specialist approaches the subject from a different expertise.

Still stuck for inspiration? Read everything you can lay your hands on. Read the real estate section of the newspaper, for instance, and discover that city apartments in Manhattan are being offered without a kitchen. Ask yourself, why. Then write the answer.

Read on airline fare rates and you’ll discover that it costs way more to transport a dead body than a live one. Why?

How do restaurants get rid of young lovers whose hormones are baying at the moon after the clock has struck midnight?

Or, how about this? I’m sure you’ve been to restaurant with walls lined with autographed photographs of celebrities that send greetings and good wishes to the owner. How does this happen?

Did the star happen to have an 8″ x 10″ glossy photograph in his pocket in case he had a terrific lunch? Does the restaurateur beg for such recognition? Does the owner of the ‘Face on the Wall’ receive a free meal when he leaves an image of himself behind. As you see, there all sorts of possibilities  to be gleaned from a passing thought.

Next Wednesday: a word about writing a query letter to a magazine.