Fact and Prejudice in Food Writing

There’s Always More to Be Said about Food

My recipe drawer with notes, clippings, and stack of well-tried recipes.

Even after I’ve written a draft of an article, I’m still accumulating information, sometimes a lot of it, information that I’ll have to find a place for or that will at least color the rest. There’s almost always a point (experience doesn’t seem to change this) at which I feel that I’m not going to be able to organize the piece. No chronology, no build, no back and forth seems to give it shape. The articles that I work on over a couple of months or longer are not surprisingly the ones that give me the most satisfaction. I may have two dozen articles under way now. A few just need one thing more: a follow-up interview, some elusive confirmation, a recipe to make the point, a taste of something I haven’t yet gotten hold of. For another example, a piece about a North American cheese that as far as I know is unique in the world obviously requires a visit to the maker.