
Wh
at Is Freel
ance Food Writing?
If you h
ave
a good
appetite
and
a w
ay with words, food writing m
ay be
a c
areer option
to consider. Not only is doing rese
arch for food writing one of the more enjoy
able t
asks in freel
ance writing, but you’ll never be short of rest
aur
ant recommend
ations
and potenti
al free me
als — though you m
ay run short of well-fitting p
ants.
To become
a successful freel
ance food writer, you’ll need
to know how
to describe food well. The key
to description,
at le
ast in tr
adition
al liter
ature, is
to m
ake focused, concrete comp
arisons.
To see why,
ask yourself which sentence you find more
appe
aling: “It w
as the t
astiest shrimp I’ve ever e
aten,” or “The lime-pressed g
arlic shrimp, grilled over
applewood, h
ad
a texture between the crunch of c
ar
amelized sug
ar
and the soft resist
ance of
a medium-r
are s
almon filet”?
The fund
ament
al l
aw of food writing is
to m
ake your re
ader wish th
at he or she h
ad some of wh
atever delicious dish you’re writing
about,
to m
ake the re
ader person
ally invested in the food.
And there’s
a str
ange quirk in the hum
an mind: whenever we think
about
an object or
activity, we
activ
ate the p
arts of our br
ain th
at turn on whenever we’re inter
acting with th
at object or eng
aged in th
at
activity. In other words: if we think
about throwing
a b
aseb
all, the nerves in our
arm twitch. Or, if we think
about e
ating
a thick ste
ak, our s
tom
ach grumbles
and our mouth w
aters. When you’re writing
about food, you w
ant
to activ
ate those s
ame p
arts of the br
ain
to m
ake your re
ader feel th
at he or she is sh
aring in the experience of e
ating it. Words like “t
asty,” “delicious,” or, worst of
all, “re
ally good,” won’t do
anything for your re
ader’s emotions. Only words rel
ated
to food — or words
and im
ages with strong emotion
al connot
ations — will re
ally get your re
aders’ mouths w
atering.