Food Writing and Food Writers

The last post I wrote was about Dorothy Richards, a food-writing blogger who sat next to me in Dianne Jacob's Food Writing for Food Lovers workshop on Saturday, May 22nd. Jacobs is author of the book and blog, Will Write for Food, http://www.diannej.com/FoodWriting.shtml.

http://www.diannej.com/, photo by Pamela Zacharias

Food writing--the Profile
The story was an interviewing exercise--practicing asking the right questions to get information I needed to put together an interesting profile.  'Course it would be unfair for me to let you assume that I was able to glean that information in the five minutes we were allocated.  Dorothy and I had been chatting the whole morning, and little tidbits she told me fed into what I eventually wrote about her.  What I didn't do--and should have--was describe Dorothy in a way that a reader could imagine what she looks and sounds like.  I didn't capture "a character" in the story I wrote.  And for profiling, I feel that is an essential element.  I mean, I don't want to merely write about the color of her hair or the shirt she wore, unless those details in some way reflect a peculiarity or uniqueness to the person I am profiling.  But I could have commented on the lunch Dorothy chose to eat, what she said about it.  As she had ordered the gluten-free option for lunch.  Thick white slabs of flour-less bread that she said were awfully dry.  A very different experience from the chicken curry sandwiches or the grilled eggplant rolled in a pita that others in the room ate.

I ploughed right in to the type of writing I prefer--profile writing.  But food writing, according to Jacobs, is predominately recipe-writing: www.101cookbooks.com; www.epicurious.com, and allrecipes.com. And a number of the people in the room that day were recipe writers.

Recipe writing
I don't consider myself a recipe writer. I follow recipe writers; I search for recipes written by recipe writers.  But every once in a while, a friend or relative asks me to write down a recipe for something I have made. So, a few basic points I learned for future reference:

1. put the ingredients in the order they will be used
2. write the method in the order that the food is prepared (and use every ingredient)
3. check the amounts, be specific, and don't be redundant. For example, if the ingredients calls for "one potato, diced," then don't explain in the method to dice the potatoes.  It's a "waste of space," Jacobs says.
4. There are four parts to a recipe: the title; headnote, list of ingredients, and the method.

The headnote is the section of a recipe to give a bit of history, talk about food pairing, or a story associated with the food.

The other less obvious thing I learned about recipe writers is that they don't paint their nails. It makes sense. Because isn't it gross to imagine a person with painted, chipping nails kneading dough, or picking out a piece of eggshell from a bowl? 

Many of the people who shared their writing and experience about writing recipes during the workshop impressed me, there was a young girl who stood out, likely because she was so young and talented.  Elissa writes the blog 17andbaking.com.

And it's no wonder.  Her blog is full of beautiful pictures and succulent details about the food she's baked.

Blogging about Food
Clearly, nearly everyone at that workshop had a blog. At the end of the workshop, each of us stood up and announced the name and URL of our respective blogs.  Some of the blogs were more famous than others. Jacobs reiterated what I had heard before--publishers are looking for writers who already have a blog, some kind of Internet presence that can be referenced and tabulated.  The 5th edition of her book is coming out this summer and includes a section dedicated to blogging.

Not just any blog will do.  A blog, in order to be read, must stand out in a crowd.  So, for example, don't choose a topic that is overdone.  Take a new or different approach to a topic that's already been done.  Write about anything sweet.  Use a strong voice and be opinionated.  

How to blog well enough to get readers' comments
On Elissa's blog, 17andbaking.com, one of her posts has 63 comments, which begs the question--how did that post get so many comments? What did she do that interested that many folks to get involved and start talking about what she wrote?

During the workshop with Jacobs, there was a great deal of discussion about this topic, starting with the example of Lee Drummonds's post on how to make cinnamon toast, which garnered 1000 comments.  Jacobs sent her an email to ask her why she thought so many people commented.  Here's what Jacobs learned:

1. triggered childhood nostalgia
2. loyalty fights about the "right" way to fix the toast
3. suggestions for other ways to do it.
4. comments about husbands (Drummond comments in her post about her husband and the way he makes the toast) and how wrong they are

But in general, why do people comment on blog posts? Or rather, as a blog author, how do you get people interested in your blog, interested enough to comment on it? There seems to be a number of ways:

1. Ask a question
2. have a really strong opinion about something (i.e., start an argument)
3. write how to make a classic, old-fashioned dish
4. post a seasonal food
5. include photos
6. write about food that's trendy (bacon, raising own chickens, making own macaroons, being your own butcher, goats)
7. inexpensive food recipes
8. comfort foods
9. kitchen disasters
10. gadget or kitchen appliance reviews
11. recipe based on popular restaurant chain dish
12. familiar recipe ingredients used in an interesting way
13. ordeal in trying a new diet
14. cooking events--where everyone makes the same thing (http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/; cooking carnivals such as http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_208.html)

Food writers to read
The following names keep coming up as models of excellent food writing.  If you see someone missing that you think should be in this list, leave a comment.

Ruth Reichl
Lee Drummond, The Pioneer Woman
Sam Sifton of The New York Times
Sallie Tisdale 
David Lebovitz
Jane and Michael Stern
MFK Fisher
Elizabeth David
Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations
Jeffrey Steingarten
Molly O'Neill
Jonathan Gold
Francis Lam