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I am still struggling until now with describing food using less adjective, "to show" and not "to tell", although you have given us tips and excercises in "Will Write For Food". Are there particular ways to practice food writing more efficiently?
Yes, this comes up a lot in food writing. You could try to release yourself from describing the dish much at all. Unless it's something few have heard of or tried, you don't have to say much. There are other things to write about: a story about your family, the history of the dish, a way to make part of it in advance, the unusual way you have gathered ingredients together, a technique that makes the dish special.
One exercise I like to do whenever I feel I'm in a rut is to grab a piece of fruit and then describe it using all of my senses - what do I see, smell, taste, feel, and hear? Are there memories that pop into my head?
Then I grab a vegetable and do the same thing... Then something in my pantry... And the next time I'm cooking something, I record my thoughts while I'm cooking.
I think these are helpful exercises to develop independent thought about food.
This sounds useful, Jack. People focus on taste too much in food writing, so it's good to experience the dish usisng the other senses and see what you get.
Currently working on writing & photographing 5 recipes for a big food brand holiday campaign. This is my first time doing it, and I’m completely in love with it! Aside from luck (which is how I feel like this happened) I’d love to know how to search for more commercial recipe development work.
Congratulations, Jenny! Make a list of companies you'd like to work for. Try to find the person in charge of hiring writers/bloggers. Email them a pitch, linking to this holiday campaign to show that you're experienced. State how much you like their products (be specific) and how much you'd like to work for them. Follow up if you don't hear back.
Wow! That's a big question, Wayne. Soleil Ho at the San Francisco Chronicle does an amazing job shaking up the status quo as a restaurant critic. She is a deep thinker and reports on restaurants in fresh ways.
Working on a cookbook , small, that was initially a digital fund raising piece for NAMI .
Developing additional recipes and will be building the additional files for print.
Sounds like a good project for a worthwhile organization. How will it be published?
Self publish with some financial donations.
I am still struggling until now with describing food using less adjective, "to show" and not "to tell", although you have given us tips and excercises in "Will Write For Food". Are there particular ways to practice food writing more efficiently?
Thank you.
Yes, this comes up a lot in food writing. You could try to release yourself from describing the dish much at all. Unless it's something few have heard of or tried, you don't have to say much. There are other things to write about: a story about your family, the history of the dish, a way to make part of it in advance, the unusual way you have gathered ingredients together, a technique that makes the dish special.
One exercise I like to do whenever I feel I'm in a rut is to grab a piece of fruit and then describe it using all of my senses - what do I see, smell, taste, feel, and hear? Are there memories that pop into my head?
Then I grab a vegetable and do the same thing... Then something in my pantry... And the next time I'm cooking something, I record my thoughts while I'm cooking.
I think these are helpful exercises to develop independent thought about food.
I hope this helps.
This sounds useful, Jack. People focus on taste too much in food writing, so it's good to experience the dish usisng the other senses and see what you get.
Currently working on writing & photographing 5 recipes for a big food brand holiday campaign. This is my first time doing it, and I’m completely in love with it! Aside from luck (which is how I feel like this happened) I’d love to know how to search for more commercial recipe development work.
Congratulations, Jenny! Make a list of companies you'd like to work for. Try to find the person in charge of hiring writers/bloggers. Email them a pitch, linking to this holiday campaign to show that you're experienced. State how much you like their products (be specific) and how much you'd like to work for them. Follow up if you don't hear back.
Amazing, thank you! I'll do just that!!!
What food/cooking/restaurant/wine writer today is the most gifted literary chronicler of what we eat and drink today?
Wow! That's a big question, Wayne. Soleil Ho at the San Francisco Chronicle does an amazing job shaking up the status quo as a restaurant critic. She is a deep thinker and reports on restaurants in fresh ways.
Who would your vote be for?
Soleil Ho, for sure. Her co-worker at SFC Esther Mobley. Michael Ruhlman. Ruth Reichl. Bill Buford, absolutely for sure.
Can't argue with any of those choices.
The project has been an excellent talking piece, a gateway for awareness and conversation.
How rewarding! It's great that you got some donations to finance it.