Food writing is a

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by List of narrative techniques, literary technique, Tone (literature), tone, Media (communication), content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from mor ...

that focuses on the cultural and historical significance of

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

. It encompasses various forms, including

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

s, journalism,

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s, and travelogues, and can be found in both fiction and non-fiction works. Food writers explore food and its overlap with

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, culture, politics, and personal memories. Food writing is not limited to communicating information about food but often aims to offer an aesthetic experience. M. F. K. Fisher, a famous American food writer, described her work as an exploration of hunger, love, and the satisfaction of basic human needs. Another American food writer,

Adam Gopnik Adam Gopnik (born August 24, 1956) is an American writer and essayist, who was raised in Montreal, Canada. He is best known as a staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' to which he has contributed nonfiction, fiction, memoir, and criticism since 19 ...

, divides food writing into two categories: the "mock epic," which humorously elevates the subject of food, and the "mystical microcosmic," which poetically delves into the deeper meanings of food experiences. Food writing emerged as a recognized term in the 1990s and includes historical works that have shaped its meaning, such as

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (; 2 April 1755 – 2 February 1826) was a French lawyer and politician, who, as the author of ''Physiologie du goût'' (''The Physiology of Taste''), became celebrated for his culinary reminiscences and reflect ...

's "

The Physiology of Taste ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

." The field includes food criticism, food journalism, and food history. Food journalism, in particular, has evolved to address broader issues like

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

, expanding beyond traditional food criticism.

Definition

Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food writer, explains how writers in the genre view its topic:

Food is essential to life. It's arguably our nation's biggest industry. Food, not sex, is our most frequently indulged pleasure. Food—too much, not enough, the wrong kind, the wrong frequency—is one of our society's greatest causes of disease and death.

Another American food writer,

Mark Kurlansky Mark Kurlansky (December 7, 1948) is an American journalist and author who has written a number of books of fiction and nonfiction. His 1997 book, ''Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World'' (1997), was an international bestseller a ...

, links this vision of food directly to food writing, giving the genre's scope and range when he observes:

Food is about agriculture, about ecology, about man's relationship with nature, about the climate, about nation-building, cultural struggles, friends and enemies, alliances, wars, religion. It is about memory and tradition and, at times, even about sex.

Because food writing is topic centered, it is not a

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

in itself, but a writing that uses a wide range of traditional genres, including

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

, and travelogues. Food writing can refer to poetry and fiction, such as Marcel Proust's '' À la recherche du temps perdu'' (''In Search of Lost Time''), with its famous passage where the narrator recollects his childhood memories as a result of sipping tea and eating a madeleine; or

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

' poem " Address to a Haggis", 1787.

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, a notable novelist wrote memorably about food, e.g., in his ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'' (1843). Often, food writing is used to specify writing that takes a more literary approach to food, such as that of the famous American food writer M. F. K. Fisher, who describes her writing about food as follows:

It seems to me our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it ... and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied ... and it is all one.

In this literary sense, food writing aspires toward more than merely communicating information about food; it also aims to provide readers with an aesthetic experience. Another American food writer,

, divides food writing into two categories, "the mock epic and the mystical microcosmic," and provides examples of their most noted practitioners:

The mock epic ( A. J. Liebling,
Calvin Trillin Calvin Marshall Trillin (born December 5, 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist. He is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2012) and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts ...
, the French writer Robert Courtine, and any good restaurant critic) is essentially comic and treats the small ambitions of the greedy eater as though they were big and noble, spoofing the idea of the heroic while raising the minor subject to at least temporary greatness. The mystical microcosmic, of which
Elizabeth David Elizabeth David ( Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about Europea ...
and M. F. K. Fisher are the masters, is essentially poetic, and turns every remembered recipe into a meditation on hunger and the transience of its fulfillment. Contemporary food writers working in this mode include
Ruth Reichl Ruth Reichl ( ; born 1948) is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times'', Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and ...
, Betty MacDonald, and Jim Harrison.

As a term, "food writing" is a relatively new descriptor. It came into wide use in the 1990s and, unlike "sports writing", or "

nature writing Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose about the natural environment. It often draws heavily from scientific information and facts while also incorporating philosophical reflection upon various aspects of nature. Works are frequently writte ...

", it has yet to be included in the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

''. Consequently, definitions of food writing when applied to historical works are retrospective. Classics of food writing, such as the 18th century French gastronome

's '' La physiologie du goût'' (''The Physiology of Taste''), pre-date the term and have helped to shape its meaning.

Fields of practice

Food criticism

Food journalism

Food history

History

People have been writing about food for centuries. Some of the earliest recipes we have found were carved into stone in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

nearly 4,000 years ago. The

ancient Romans The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens (; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman ...

also wrote about their grand feasts and fancy meals held by emperors of the time. Although the modern cookbook like we see today was not invented until much later and measurements were not standardized until the 20th century.

In academia

Food writer Michael Pollan holds the Knight Professorship of Science and Environmental Journalism at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and since 2013 has directed the 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship Program. In 2013, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg began a graduate certificate program in Food Writing and Photography, created by longtime ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' food and travel editor Janet K. Keeler.''Food Writing and Photography: A graduate certificate from USF St. Petersburg''.
Retrieved on December 16, 2015.

Notable food writers and books

Authors

This is a list of some prominent writers on

cooking Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or Food safety, safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from ...

dining A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in a ...

, and cultural history related to food. * Jay Rayner * Karen Anand * Robert Appelbaum *

Archestratus Archestratus ( ''Archestratos'') was an ancient Greek poet of Gela or Syracuse, Magna Graecia, in Sicily, who wrote some time in the mid 4th century BCE, and was known as "the Daedalus of tasty dishes". His humorous didactic poem ''Hedypatheia ...

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 21, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside ...

Maggie Beer Maggie Beer (born Margaret Anne Ackerman, 19 January 1945) is an Australian chef, food author, restaurateur, and food manufacturer. Beer was one of the judges on '' The Great Australian Bake Off'' alongside Matt Moran until 2022 and is also a ...

* Mrs Beeton * Edward Behr *

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good Food Guid ...

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain ( ; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and Travel documentary, travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the huma ...

* Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin * Jane Brody *

Alton Brown Alton Crawford Brown Jr. (born July 30, 1962) is an American television personality, food show presenter, food scientist, author, voice actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show '' Good Eats'' th ...

* Robert Farrar Capon *

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

* Mei Chin *

Craig Claiborne Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 January 22, 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for ''The New York Times'', he was also the author of numerous cookbooks ...

* Brendan Connell * Shirley Corriher *

Fanny Cradock Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994), better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television cook and writer. She frequently appeared on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print with ...

* Elizabeth Craig * Curnonsky * Tarla Dalal *

Elizabeth David Elizabeth David ( Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about Europea ...

* Alan Davidson * Emiko Davies * Giada De Laurentiis * Avis DeVoto * Andrew Dornenburg * Escoffier * Judith Lynn Ferguson * Susie Fishbein * M. F. K. Fisher * Carol Lee Flinders * Alexandros Giotis *

Gael Greene Gael Greene (December 22, 1933 – November 1, 2022) was an American restaurant critic, author, and novelist. She became '' New York'' magazine's restaurant critic in fall 1968, at a time when most New Yorkers were unsophisticated about food and ...

Jane Grigson Jane Grigson (born Heather Mabel Jane McIntire; 13 March 1928 – 12 March 1990) was an English cookery writer. In the latter part of the 20th century she was the author of the food column for ''The Observer'' and wrote numerous books about Eu ...

Tim Hayward Timothy Matthew Hayward (born 9 July 1963 in Bristol) is a British food writer, broadcaster and restaurateur. Career Born in Bristol, Hayward was educated at Bristol Grammar School, New College School, and Bournemouth School. He later a ...

* Marcella Hazan * Karen Hess * Amanda Hesser * Kate Heyhoe * Alison Holst * Gil Hovav * Judith Jones * Jonathan Kauffman * Diana Kennedy *

Christopher Kimball Christopher Kimball (born June 5, 1951) is an American Editing, editor, Publishing, publisher, and radio and TV personality. He is notable as one of the founders of ''America's Test Kitchen'' and ''Cook's Country'' and as the creator of ''Christ ...

* Kylie Kwong *

Nigella Lawson Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in ...

* David Leite * Paul Levy * A. J. Liebling * Manju Malhi * Ginette Mathiot *

Harold McGee Harold James McGee (born October 3, 1951) is an American author who writes about the chemistry and history of food science and cooking. He is best known for his seminal book '' On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen'', first ...

* Zora Mintalová - Zubercová *

Prosper Montagné Prosper Montagné (; 14 November 1865 – 22 April 1948) was one of the most renowned French chefs of the Belle Époque and author of many books and articles on food, cooking, and gastronomy, notably '' Larousse Gastronomique'' (1938), an encyclo ...

* Massimo Montanari * Joan Nathan *

Marion Nestle Marion Nestle (born 1936) is an American molecular biologist, nutritionist, and public health advocate. She is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health Emerita at New York University. Her research examines ...

Jamie Oliver Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...

Richard Olney Richard Olney (September 15, 1835 – April 8, 1917) was an American attorney, statesman, and Democratic Party politician who served as a member of the second cabinet of President Grover Cleveland as the 40th United States Attorney General ...

* Clementine Paddleford * Karen A. Page * Jean Paré * Angelo Pellegrini *

Elizabeth Robins Pennell Elizabeth Robins Pennell (February 21, 1855 – February 7, 1936) was an American writer who, for most of her adult life, made her home in London. A researcher summed her up in a work published in 2000 as "an adventurous, accomplished, self-ass ...

Jacques Pépin Jacques Pépin (; born December 18, 1935) is a French chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist. After having been the personal chef of French President Charles de Gaulle, he moved to the US in 1959 and after working i ...

* Michael Pollan * Edouard de Pomiane *

Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian chef and restaurateur. Early life Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname of his stepfather, Jos ...

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosted the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program '' Rachael Ray''. Other programs to her credit include ''30 Minut ...

Ruth Reichl Ruth Reichl ( ; born 1948) is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times'', Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and ...

Gary Rhodes Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', '' Mas ...

Claudia Roden Claudia Roden (née Douek; born 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/ Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including ''A Book of Middle Eastern Food'' ...

* Waverley Root * Marcel Rouff * Michael Ruhlman * Eric Schlosser * Nigel Slater *

Delia Smith Delia Ann Smith (born 18 June 1941) is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills in a direct style. One of the best-known celebrity chefs in British popular culture, Smith has influenced viewers to bec ...

* Raymond Sokolov * Jeffrey Steingarten * Joanne Stepaniak *

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

* John Thorne * Raquel Torres Cerdán *

Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec Marie Pierre "Mapie" de Toulouse-Lautrec (1901–1972) was a French journalist and food writer, born Marie Pierre Adélaïde Lévêque de Vilmorin in Verrières-le-Buisson, scion of the Vilmorin seed company. Her horticulturalist father was Philipp ...

Alice Waters Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is an American chef, restaurateur, food writer, and author. In 1971, she opened Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California, famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for ...

Anne Willan Anne Willan (born 26 January 1938 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is the founder of the École de Cuisine La Varenne, which operated in Paris and Burgundy France, from 1975 until 2007. La Varenne classes continued in Santa Monica, California, thr ...

Martin Yan Martin Yan (; born 22 December 1948) is a Chinese-American chef and food writer. He has hosted his award-winning PBS-TV cooking show '' Yan Can Cook'' since 1982. Early years and education With ancestral roots in Hoiping, Yan was born in ...

* Joe Yonan

Important texts in the genre (not easily attributable to an author)

* '' Larousse Gastronomique'' (1938; 1961; 1988; 2001: four editions, the first of which describes French cuisine; the last of the three English editions also includes coverage of cuisines other than French; the original editor was

) * ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Old French , 'cookery') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most famou ...

'' (compiled by the chief master cooks of King Richard II of England) *'' Le Viandier'' (a French cookery book of the 14th century)

References

External links

Books for Cooks
An online exhibit of historical cookbooks at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

.
"Dining Out: The Food Critic at Table"
A review of food writing and writers by Adam Gopnik that examines the genre.

A defense of the genre by Eric LeMay based on Michael Pollan's '' In Defense of Food''.
"On Food Writing"
Advice about the craft of food writing from Michael Ruhlman.
"Between the Lines: Picnic in the Democrative Forest"
An argument that food writing should take on "a democratic way of looking at our food culture."
"Interview with Jonathan Gold"
Appears in '' The Believer'', September 2012. {{cuisine *Food writing Food-related literary genres