A Recipe For Success!
Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal gives ME all the ingredients one
would need to be a good food writer!
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| Article from Femina a few years into Foodwriting |
Whenever I
introduce myself as a food writer, I am usually asked “What’s a food writer?”
I recall
the first time the question came my way. I simply blurted out the obvious, “A
food writer is someone who writes about food.” And then went on to elaborate on
the kind of articles I wrote and the magazines they had been published in. But
the episode comes back to me. After all, how would you answer that question
right now? Good question!
Even
Wikipedia, the online source of information on almost anything, does not seem
to have an answer. But, it does say
that, “Food is any substance consumed by living organisms, including
liquid drinks. It is the main source of energy and of nutrition for animals,
and is usually of animal or plant origin.” Writing is defined as, “a process
which may refer to two activities: the inscribing characters on a medium, with
the intention of forming words and other lingual constructs that represent
language and record information, or the creation of information to be conveyed
through written language.”
So ‘food
writing’ could be defined as, “the inscribing characters on a medium, with the
intention of forming words and other lingual constructs that represent language
and record information, or the creation of information on the subject of any
substance consumed by living organisms, including liquid drinks to be conveyed
through written language.”
Umm, I think
I will stick with ‘Food writing is writing on food’. I can hear you go, “Duh!”,
but try having to explain what you do once a day (at the very least) to a PR
rep for a restaurant, a publication or just about anyone else, and you will
sympathise.
This is
because food writing is still, to a large extent, an undefined sector in the
publishing industry in India.
On the
global scale, food writing has come into its own. Categorised under the larger
umbrella of writing in general, it has its niche and covers everything from
articles for print and web to books related to food. It encompasses subjects
ranging from food (and drink) production to consumption. That said, there are
branches within food writing. Some food writers choose to stick to certain
areas like restaurant criticism (in which case they would be restaurant critics)
or wine (in which case they would be wine writers or wine critics).
Conversely, food writing is an undefined, unrecognized sector in the publishing industry in India. There are less than a
handful of food writers around, no formal training courses, and even today few
publications recognise food writers as specialist writers. In fact, food
writing in the true sense of the word is unexplored. And books on food are at a
very rudimentary stage of evolution. Food writing has a long way to go toward
achieving the cult status it enjoys in the West. So each step of my journey has
been one of learning as I went along.
So, does one
need to have a specific background or training in order to be a successful food
writer?
It will come as a surprise, but most food writers and critics ended up in this
field after working in other areas of writing or in another career altogether…
Jeffrey Steingarten, the food writer for Vogue, was a lawyer in his past career,
Ruth Reichl, Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine, worked in and later owned a
restaurant. Closer to home, restaurant critic Rahmi Uday Singh, also author of The
Times Good Food guides was Deputy Director General, Shipping with the Indian
Administrative Service, before she gave it all up to be a food writer.
I take
comfort from all these stories because food writing happened entirely by chance
for me, too. I discovered food writing while on a sabbatical from my job. As
the mother of a toddler, I was pretty much confined to my home and the Internet
was my lifeline to the world. I spent hours surfing, reading about all sorts of
things, and experimenting with blogging. It was at this time when looking for
information (on pickles I think) that I discovered Egullet.org, home to
like-minded people who reveled in food.
I spent
weeks dithering around, lurking through its forums, scribbling a line or two
here and there until I finally worked up the courage to put up an essay on
Uttarakhandi cuisine. The cuisine in question being unknown, my post got a lot
of attention and my inherent talent for research and writing must have come
through because I got a lot of praise. The post
was the first step to a book that is awaiting publishing. But more immediately,
it brought me a job offer with a local gastronomy magazine, making me realise
that perhaps there was a career for me in this.
The first realisation a food writer must have
is that food writing is not just recipe features or restaurant reviews. It goes
beyond that. Food writing, like all other writing, aims to stimulate the senses
of the reader, either evoking experiences, past or present, or more practically,
motivating the reader out of the armchair and into the kitchen or nearest
restaurant.
Not willing
to give up being a hands-on mother, I chose to freelance. My first article (not
surprisingly) on Utterakhandi cuisine was published in April 2005 in Savvy
Cookbook. By June that year I had three articles published, including an essay
on Kutchi food, a recipe feature and a restaurant review in three different
publications. (In
retrospect, freelancing was the best decision I could have taken because it
allowed me to work on a variety of subjects and styles and amass a body of work
that I would not have been able to if I had been with just one publication.)
Three years
down the line, I have more than 300 articles to my name, and share viable
relationships with at least 12 publications.
When you
are starting out, it is a good idea to try everything. But be wise and use that
phase to identify your strengths. For instance, I prefer to circumvent
restaurant reviews and other generic articles. These are easy to write but my
approach to them is “have to get this article done and out of the way”, as
opposed to my usual feeling of eagerness that subjects I gravitate towards
inspire. I have
found that articles that motivate me are ones that deal with subjects closest
to my heart: the food on the plates of real Indians, culinary history, the
migration and evolution of cuisine, sustainable agriculture, the intersection
of food and culture, food as a carrier in the evolution of a culture
(preferably researched at the knees of someone’s mom or grandma). And my India
is a rich country for that.
That said,
however, do focus on your niche once you have identified it. Food writing is
relatively unknown in India -- I am still slotted under freelance writers at
most publications. As a result, I am often asked if I could do a story on this
or that “just this once”. I did a couple of these in my initial days but
stopped when I realised I spent twice the amount of time researching unknown
subjects.
If you have
decided to be a food writer, FOCUS on food writing. Sticking to your niche
might lead to lean pickings at the outset but will pay off in the long run.
Once your by-line comes to be associated to one kind of topic and your prowess
with the subject comes to the fore, more ‘meaty’ assignments will come your
way.
I earned Rs
1,000 on my first assignment. I then spent the ensuing year accepting whatever
came my way, regardless of remuneration. One year down the line, I began to let
go of low-paying assignments because I found that these were the hardest ones
to do. I also began to develop relationships with quality publications. You
might need quantity in terms of by-lines at the outset of your career, but once
you are established it is the publication you associate your name with that
counts. And, believe me, the good ones rarely have qualms about paying fairly!
Most of us
shy away from appearing avaricious. We are uncomfortable asking for more money.
At times like this, try to remind yourself that you are having that dialogue
about money because the person at the other end feels you are worth pursuing. (Let me
share a secret here. I don’t stress about appearing greedy ever since I realised
that it helps separate the wheat from the chaff!) And once you
have work coming in, losing a job that pays too little isn’t a bad thing, it
just frees up time for you to write the kind of stuff you want to – paid or
not!
Food writing has ups and downs. The best thing is being forced to
try new things. Last week, working on an article, I had a great time
discovering the amazing variety of green leafy vegetables we use in Indian
cuisine (I found seven in Mumbai alone!). I made three new dishes with them: an
Irani mixed greens offering called Gormeh Subzi, a forgotten Gujarati recipe
called Dakho, and a concoction all my own combining greens and dals. It was
heavenly, but I would never know without trying it all.
It’s a field that requires constant educating
and re-educating. I study nearly every day to keep up with
trends and updated food facts. I inhale every bit of food writing I can get my
hands on, have about 500 books on food, Encyclopaedias and histories of foods
and food names.
It takes
hard work, dedication, perseverance, research, knowledge, an open mind, the
ability to multitask, and above all, passion and creativity to grow as a
food-writer. It’s an excellent job for someone with a passion for food, writing
and learning.
Box
Tip offs!
* Write properly. When you send in an article to a publication,
make sure it’s perfect. I thought I was a skilled writer until an editor pulled
me up for not spell-checking! If you don’t know how to write or are unsure of
your skill, take a class or invest in a copy of Strunk and White. It will hold
you in good stead.
* Don’t wait for the deadline. Send your work in early if you can.
You can be an excellent writer but not meeting deadlines makes you unreliable.
* Ensure your information is complete. Do not leave anything to be
desired. At the same time, strike a balance with information, making the
fact-checker work overtime will not get you more work.
* Know your subject. If you are called to discuss your story
idea, you must be able to. Nobody is going to trust you with an assignment
unless they are confident in your abilities.
* Understand your reader. If you’re writing for a woman’s
magazine that is targeted at homemakers – an audience that juggles a budget and
cooks up to three meals a day - an article on innovative ways with dal or quick
microwave recipes rather than something like truffles will be the order of the
day. Truffles are better suited to the glossy, lifestyle magazine where your
subjects must be in step with culinary trends around the world.
* Be patient. Ok, you’ve spent hours, sometimes even days,
developing story ideas, and if you are like me, chances are you’re going to
want a response RIGHT NOW. But hold on. Remember that the editor receives tons
of similar mail. Every editor I’ve ever worked with has responded in due
course. If s/he doesn’t get back in two to three weeks, an e-mail or phone call
is in order. But keep it short. Until I got confident enough to wing it on my
own, I wrote out exactly what I would say over the phone. No extra chitchat, to
the point. Remember, you’re not trying to make a best friend; you’re trying to
get your work published.
* Develop a distinctive voice. This
is easier said than done. Voice is the unmistakable sound, rhythm and
point-of-view that connects the reader with the writer. So they know who has
written it when they read it. Read writing by MFK Fischer, Nigel Slater and,
closer home, Chitrita Banergee, Vir Sanghvi, Vikram Doctor. When you’re reading
them, you can hear the authors’ voices in your head. And more importantly, you
can never confuse or interchange them. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t
inherently interesting enough or big enough personalities to pull it off, as
these masters do. Most of us have to work at finding and developing our voice.
But when you succeed, editors will use you again and again.
* Create your own website or blog. The fact is websites work. Start
with a blog, they are free. I include a link to my blog when I introduce myself
to a new editor. Even if the assignment does not come my way, they do register
me and my knowledge. Until you collect enough published work, the site will
also make a good platform for your capabilities.
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