Will Write for Food by Dianne Jacob

I’ve met many students who want to write about food and I  try my utmost to be encouraging. It’s always been difficult to earn a decent living as a writer but I can’t remember a time when it has been more challenging.

Even so, there are doors that are open a crack and with a little ingenuity and masses of determination it is possible to push them wide open.

It is important to know, what exactly, a food writer does. Scott Jones, Food Editor of Southern Living and a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) grad describes it well: “Writers research, write, edit, proofread, and check facts (including testing recipes) in jobs such as: newspaper columnist, cookbook author, and restaurant critic. As a food editor for a publisher, you’ll review cookbook proposals and take an accepted book from contract to print. Editors also work for magazines, newspapers, and television shows, setting the content and style of their food section or programming. In this field, you’ll need strong writing skills, knowledge of culinary principles, and familiarity with current consumer and industry trends.”

That all sounds good. So, let’s look at the bad news first. The prospects of landing a job as a syndicated newspaper writer are slim and getting slimmer. The possibility of finding work as a regular newspaper columnist are thin and getting thinner as circulation and advertising numbers shrink, and few funds can be found for opinion pieces. Many resort to simple seasonal recipes with text, recipes and photographs provided free by commodity boards. Cross off newspapers as a potential employer unless you decide to become a hard food news journalist where hyper-local is the current trend.  This job has to be undertaken by a local writer.

How about food magazines?  As we all know, Gourmet is gone. The bad news here is though a fortunate few manage to secure freelance writing assignments. They are a precious few and they are, (sorry to say), often big names or “known” to the food editor. So forget about FOOD & WINE, Bon Appetit or Saveur and the other giants in the field.

This brings us to all the good news. The familiar food magazines do not provide the only home for your writings. Go to any of the major booksellers, and scan the incredible number of magazines that offer opportunities you may not have previously explored. Look at local publications too. Often the chamber of commerce or real estate groups publish their own (sometimes very handsome) magazines as do medical groups and other special interest organizations. And don’t forget about food blogs for food magazines.

Wegmans is just one of the many excellent supermarket publications, and then there are the huge number of trade magazines: FOOD ARTS, Chef magazine and Chef Educator Today, Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Business, Restaurant Hospitality, Tea Times, Mushroom Growers, as well as catering and specialty food industry publications. Check online to find the names of the astonishing number there are.

There are other ways to dip your toe in the food writing world. There are food writing courses and coaches and writing programs to choose from, though I highly recommend New York University Steinhardt Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health.

But whichever direction you decide to travel, you must write regularly. The difference between a writer and a professional writer is the professional never gives up.

There are three reasons a writer becomes successful; no one knows what they are.

May I introduce you to Cameron? She is a career changer who

Cameron Crowder, Culinary Student

personifies the courageous people I meet at culinary school who decide to to take the plunge and embark on a new life in the food world. This doesn’t for a minute mean that they plan to spend the next several years working in a restaurant. On the contrary there are literally hundreds of other job opportunities that await them when they finish their studies in culinary school. Here is Cameron’s story:

I grew up fully expecting to become a writer. My parents, teachers and anyone else who read something I wrote would always say, “Cameron, you’re a born writer,” with the kind of authority in their tone that seemed to add “and you’ll be wasting your life if you try to do anything else.”

So, after dabbling in other directions ranging from drama to architecture, I earned a BA in comparative literature from the University of Virginia (UVA). I even won a prize for my thesis. Anyone who knew me at the time assumed that graduate school and a glorious career in academia, teaching and writing books on obscure French novels was to be my lot in life. I thought so too.

A few months after graduating, I visited the home of my former advisor, the head of UVA’s comparative literature department, to talk with her about graduate programs I might apply to. Her home’s walls were full of built-in bookshelves stuffed with not just with literature, but cookbooks too.

As we sat on her front porch sipping tea and talking about school, I felt a little guilty about the fact that all I wanted to do was curl up with a stack of her cookbooks and read or bake something in her lovely, well-equipped kitchen. I recall that when she realized how interested I was in her cookbook collection, she remarked rather prophetically, “If I hadn’t become a scholar, I would have been a baker.”

It didn’t seem like a life changing moment at the time. But, those words did something to me—they gave me permission to do what I wanted rather than just doing what I knew I was good at. If this professor, who was as brilliant as anyone I had ever met, considered baking a legitimate career choice, then so could I.

About six months later, having chosen not to apply to grad school, I was on the verge of losing my job and my home. My parents, with whom I was still living, and the company I worked for were both moving across the country. Every part of my life was up in the air, just a few weeks away from changing drastically for better or for worse.

Miserable and panicked, I finally asked myself this question: If you had all the money and security and recognition you could ever want, if the only person you had to please was yourself—what would you do? Several answers came to mind (my interests have always been too numerous to be convenient), but the one answer that stood out was becoming a pastry chef.

Wisteria at CIA Entrance, Courtesy of Cameron Crowder

Once I found the CIA’s (Culinary Institute of America) website, it took me all of about 30 minutes to decide that going there was the right path for me. I honestly never looked back.

I sensed from the beginning that any obstacles and doubts I might encounter would be temporary and well worth the effort to overcome. I quit my job almost immediately.

I began working as a baker for a coffeehouse, waking up before dawn to make muffins, scones, cookies—anything that goes well with coffee. Eleven months later, I arrived at the CIA and still can’t believe how bold a turn my life has taken; how fortunate I am to be here, how lucky I am to be certain of what I want to do at a relatively young age.

I concede I may end up a writer after all, but not of literary criticism.

Desserts at CIA Courtesy of Cameron Crowder

Food writing (and food photography) is much more to my taste.

* You can follow Cameron on her culinary journey. If you scroll through the archives of this blog, you’ll find other culinary career changer profiles.*

Sir Francis Crick who, with James Watson, decoded the DNA molecule, said, “If you are not prepared to take a risk you should never get married, never have children and most definitely never change jobs.”

Most of us don’t have the option of deciding whether or not to change jobs. Things change and suddenly we find ourselves in a crisis. The axe hangs over our heads by a very slender thread.

Even if you have a full-time job, it’s a good idea to dream of what the future could hold and muse about what you would really like to do with the rest of your life.

For example, I just met a culinary student who didn’t want to cook. He wanted to write and ride his Harley. He now has a regular column, writing about food for a biking magazine. O.K. it doesn’t pay a lot, but he’s doing what he wants to do. Sounds good to me.

Have you made a culinary career change? Add your story.