When I tell people that I’m a food writer, most assume that this means I am a restaurant critic — and they immediately ask for recommendations.
While I have written about restaurants, it’s never been from the perspective of evaluating the food. My own food writing beat is much more about food and restaurant culture: everything from flavor trends to grocery shopping and kitchen tips to profiles of people and businesses in various sectors of the food and beverage industry. Restaurant criticism is a very small part of what food writing entails.
“Most stories about life include food in some way or another,” says , an ĢƵ graduate (Culinary Arts ‘14) who is also a full-time food writer. “There are so many stories that take place around the table and in the kitchen.”
Becoming a food writer is a valid career path for many culinary school graduates, and takes many different forms. Along with other ICE graduates who also became food writers, this article examines the scope of the food writing field and discusses possible paths to becoming a food writer.
Should You Go to Culinary School to Become a Food Writer?
My own path to becoming a food writer took a scenic route, but it most definitely begins with my passion for food and cooking, which is what took me to culinary school. Connections I made with people in the restaurant industry led me to food writing, since I already had an English degree from my undergraduate education, and those connections would never have happened without having attended ICE.
Some other ICE graduates already had food writing in mind when they decided to enroll, however. Attending culinary school specifically to become a food writer may be a valid means to an end for many students.
“I went to cooking school to be a food writer. That was always my goal,” says cookbook author and writer Dina Cheney, who graduated from ICE's Culinary Arts program in 2003. “I never intended to work in a restaurant or to be a caterer."
Cheney knew she wanted to write cookbooks and work in food media even before choosing to attend culinary school. She has now authored six cookbooks.
“I attended ICE because I knew that most food publications valued a culinary degree,” Kanter says. “I already knew at that point I wasn't cut out to be a chef, but I had a feeling the knowledge and experience would be invaluable.”
Understanding Different Types of Food Writing
Food writing isn’t just one thing, but is many things, and full-time food writers may write a variety of different types of work. Food writing can be journalism-based, as in writing reported articles both in long or short forms for online and/or print media, or first-person narratives. Writing recipes for various media and authoring cookbooks is another important form of food writing. And yes, writing reviews of restaurants, dishes, or products also constitutes food writing. All of which can be enabled and strengthened by skills learned in culinary school.
Writing about food also intersects with many other genres. Travel, home and garden, lifestyle, and health and wellness are all very closely related to food writing, and food writing can even lead to a journalism career with a broader scope.
“Today, I call myself a service journalist with a focus on lifestyle and health,” Cheney says.
Why Culinary School is Important for Food Writers
Regardless of what kind of food writing you might be interested in doing, a culinary school curriculum can be instrumental to the process of becoming a food writer.
“It was indispensable,” Cheney says. “Without this education, I couldn’t have become a recipe developer or cookbook author.”
Having a deep understanding of various cooking techniques, and the processes by which flavors and textures develop and are layered are crucial to recipe writing, as well as an understanding of various cultural cuisines. Being creative is important, and culinary school allows for opportunities to flex those creative muscles, but being skilled and precise is arguably more important when it comes to writing recipes.
Even for food journalism and storytelling, a deep understanding of cooking can be essential to a food writing career.
“Culinary school made me a much more confident cook,” Kanter says. “This has had a major impact in my writing, as I just have so much more knowledge about my food, where it comes from and how it's made.”
How to Get Started in Food Writing
In order to become a food writer, a good awareness of food media is critical. However you consume media, make sure you’re tuned in to the kinds of publications that regularly feature food and beverage stories. These may be trade and industry focused or consumer focused. Making connections with other food writers can also benefit you.
“Are there other food writers whose work you love? Tell them,” Kanter says. “Share their work. This is the best way to make genuine connections, and you never know what these connections might lead to.”
It is possible to be a food writer in a full time or part time position with a particular media organization, or to be a freelance food writer and write for multiple outlets as well as your own endeavors. Many food writers will do a bit of both throughout their careers.
Also be aware of the function of social media when it comes to food writing.
“The food media landscape has changed dramatically over the past 20 years,” Cheney says. “Today, it’s more about influencing and social media than writing, per-se. Consider supplementing food writing with content strategy, video production, or other income streams. Or pursue a related career that allows you to write, like marketing or PR.”
Food writing opportunities are typically available in the form of job postings, or pitch calls — editors actively seeking stories on a particular topic. You can subscribe to various job boards and newsletters that catalogue these opportunities on a regular basis. You don’t need to be an established writer in order to land a story assignment. If you have a good story to tell and can write a good pitch about why you want to tell the story, you're already ahead of the game.
“If you love food and you love writing, just start writing,” Kanter says. “Start a blog or a Substack and just get your thoughts out there.”
Being in the regular habit of writing will also help you when an opportunity presents itself. I wrote a daily blog during my time in culinary school, and was working on a memoir project when I got my first food writing job, which has lead to, among other things, writing for ICE. The notion of coming full circle here is not lost on me.
