Resource Guide for Food Writers

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Author: Resource Guide for Food Writers. New York: Routledge, 1999. ISBN: 041592250X (paper)

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Sample from pages 1-2:

Imagine the scene: A food writer sits at home, basking in the memory of accolades earned by some previous bit of writing . While this reverie is extremely satisfying, it is accompanied by a nagging suspicion that the triumph might never be repeated. What if no worthwhile concept appears? Ever? Or worse, what if an exquisite idea manages to emerge, half-formed, from the writer's vast unconsciousness, but the supporting materials are not substantial enough to develop the idea into the prizewinning prose it deserves?

A ringing telephone interrupts this solitary sinking from bliss into despair.

The writer's agent/editor/publisher is calling to say that the next food craze is going to be the cooking of the Laotian expatriates on Madagascar -- a whole new fusion cuisine that should be exploited, in book form, as soon as possible. The call contains an unspoken, yet strong, suggestion that others may already be on the scent of this idea, and that yesterday might be an appropriate deadline. While the writer is not exactly sure what Madagascar-Laotian cuisine might be, what is certain is that the agent/editor/publisher must never detect, in the writer, the slightest sign of weakness or uncertainty.

Summoning hitherto unknown reserves of enthusiasm, the writer takes the assignment.

With the soft clatter of the phone settling into its cradle, silence again fills the home. Gone is the satisfaction with past glory. Gone, the vague fear of a barren, clueless future. The writer knows precisely what needs to be done: find and consume every known fact on the subject at hand, digest and transubstantiate the raw data into a meaningful -- no, fascinating -- new article or book. Everything boils down to one question.

Where can that raw information be found?

A good, apparently simple, question -- but good questions, like ripe fruits, often contain the seeds of other questions. For example: What kinds of information would be most productive?

Some cultural and geographic material might help to create the setting. Perhaps some insight into the kinds of agricultural products produced in Madagascar, as well as the foodstuffs that comprised the traditional Laotian diet. Were there any other cultural or economic forces in effect during, and shortly after, their migration? Which of their ideas about food were shaped by their religion, and how were they modified by the presumably different religious atmosphere of their new home? Is this new cuisine a spontaneous reaction of the Laotian people in response to changed circumstances -- or is it the calculated creation of one or two inspired individuals? If the latter, who are they? How did the new Madagascar-Laotian cooking find its way to the United States? How does it fit into the spectrum of cuisines we already enjoy in this country?

Thus, a few minutes of seemingly idle speculation provide the basic directions for the research phase of the new writing project. Armed with appropriate questions, the intrepid food writer goes forth in search of answers -- or, at least at the beginning, for sources of information.