Ben Stein

The actor, commentator and economist Ben Stein observed: “[Freelancing] is the most insecure existence imaginable. It mandates saving, ingenuity, and nonstop work and creativity. Freelancers never have a day off. Never. They know they can go months without a check. They absolutely have to save. They have to have five different levels of fall-back plans and financial escape hatches.”

This could be why we love it so much.

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Will Write for Food by Dianne Jacob

I’ve met many students who want to write about food and I  try my utmost to be encouraging. It’s always been difficult to earn a decent living as a writer but I can’t remember a time when it has been more challenging.

Even so, there are doors that are open a crack and with a little ingenuity and masses of determination it is possible to push them wide open.

It is important to know, what exactly, a food writer does. Scott Jones, Food Editor of Southern Living and a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) grad describes it well: “Writers research, write, edit, proofread, and check facts (including testing recipes) in jobs such as: newspaper columnist, cookbook author, and restaurant critic. As a food editor for a publisher, you’ll review cookbook proposals and take an accepted book from contract to print. Editors also work for magazines, newspapers, and television shows, setting the content and style of their food section or programming. In this field, you’ll need strong writing skills, knowledge of culinary principles, and familiarity with current consumer and industry trends.”

That all sounds good. So, let’s look at the bad news first. The prospects of landing a job as a syndicated newspaper writer are slim and getting slimmer. The possibility of finding work as a regular newspaper columnist are thin and getting thinner as circulation and advertising numbers shrink, and few funds can be found for opinion pieces. Many resort to simple seasonal recipes with text, recipes and photographs provided free by commodity boards. Cross off newspapers as a potential employer unless you decide to become a hard food news journalist where hyper-local is the current trend.  This job has to be undertaken by a local writer.

How about food magazines?  As we all know, Gourmet is gone. The bad news here is though a fortunate few manage to secure freelance writing assignments. They are a precious few and they are, (sorry to say), often big names or “known” to the food editor. So forget about FOOD & WINE, Bon Appetit or Saveur and the other giants in the field.

This brings us to all the good news. The familiar food magazines do not provide the only home for your writings. Go to any of the major booksellers, and scan the incredible number of magazines that offer opportunities you may not have previously explored. Look at local publications too. Often the chamber of commerce or real estate groups publish their own (sometimes very handsome) magazines as do medical groups and other special interest organizations. And don’t forget about food blogs for food magazines.

Wegmans is just one of the many excellent supermarket publications, and then there are the huge number of trade magazines: FOOD ARTS, Chef magazine and Chef Educator Today, Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Business, Restaurant Hospitality, Tea Times, Mushroom Growers, as well as catering and specialty food industry publications. Check online to find the names of the astonishing number there are.

There are other ways to dip your toe in the food writing world. There are food writing courses and coaches and writing programs to choose from, though I highly recommend New York University Steinhardt Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health.

But whichever direction you decide to travel, you must write regularly. The difference between a writer and a professional writer is the professional never gives up.

There are three reasons a writer becomes successful; no one knows what they are.

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Paula Lambert, Mozzarella Company Owner & Cheesemaker

In our long road to gastronomical sophistication, we have recently discovered cheese, in particular artisan cheeses. Yet, it wasn’t anything so bucolic as a fondness for cows or goats that led Paula Lambert to the cheesemaking business. It was a taste.

Paula wanted fresh mozzarella; the moist kind that oozed milk when cut with a knife, the kind that she’d savored on numerous trips to Italy. Such mozzarella was not to be found in Dallas.

Whenever a new Italian restaurant opened near her, Paula would call and ask, “Do you have fresh mozzarella?” When told “yes,” she would rush over to taste it. But it was never right: not like the mozzarella that sold in every corner market in Italy or straight from the cheese factories. It was always old and dry and sour.

So Paula became a mozzarella cheesemaker herself. (She had a will to find whey.)

Her training began by traveling to the source of great cheesemaking: Italy. Her first stop at a small, family-owned cheese factory at the foot of the hills in Assisi. “It wasn’t a place where the milk went into a tube and you never saw it again,” she recalls. The family welcomed her to spend time and learn the process.

“They just let me put my hands in it and let me touch the cheese and ask all the questions and make notes and take photographs,” says Lambert, who spent a month observing and learning.

From there she went to visit a renowned professor at a government-run cheesemaking trade school in northern Italy. He, in turn, referred her to a young professor, who was excited by the idea of a trip to Texas to help set up a cheese operation.

Back home, Lambert set to work converting an old drugstore in a warehouse district on the edge of downtown Dallas’ Deep Ellum neighborhood and in 1982, The Mozzarella Company was born. Paula was ahead of her time but her will still held. After three years of losing money, it moved into the black.

When asked what made her successful, Paula replies, “Owning a business is always harder and takes more time than you anticipate,” Lambert says. “But if you love what you do, it’s not really work.”

Today, Paula’s hand-crafted, award-winning specialty cheeses are sold throughout the United states to restaurants, hotels and gourmet shops, as well as to cheese lovers. She and her staff of 18 produce 27 different cheeses. A James Beard Foundation “Who’s Who,” Paula can be credited among the earliest artisanal cheesemaker pioneers in the United States.

Over the years Paula’s cheeses have become famous. They have been featured in publications such as Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and The New York Times. And they have been served at the Academy Awards.

Best of all, Paula’s work has enabled her to travel extensively, to teach, to write and to become a leader in the hospitality industry and a respected community leader too. She has created a life.

Getting Started:

If you’re like Paula and have a passion to make cheese, you may have to chart your direction, find your own way. It may be as simple as taking course and getting started.

Besides investing in Paula’s book, may I also suggest The Cheese Chronicles: A Journey Through the Making and Selling of Cheese in America, From Field to Farm to Table by Liz Thorpe.

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Jacques Torres

The enormously talented and exuberant Mr. Chocolate, Jacques Torres of Jacques Torres Chocolate, has had a career rich with many firsts, lovingly wrapped in chocolate. (World-class pastry chef, Dean of Pastry Arts at the French Culinary Institute, James Beard Foundation Award Winner, TV host, author, humble chocolatier, to name a few.)

Why chocolate? “Chocolate is a magical product, the food of gods and lovers,” he says.

When asked: What is the best training to follow to become a chocolatier?

He answers: “Education trains your mind. Practice trains your hands. You have to be willing to make lots of mistakes and that will undoubtedly lead to many discoveries. Work in the best quality places—start where you want to end up.”

And: What advice do you have for someone looking to follow your footsteps?

He responds: “Work hard, stay late, arrive early, never compromise on quality, try to learn from the people who are already in the profession and are having success, ask questions, listen to the answers.

You must have passion for this business. You can’t learn to have passion. You either have it or you don’t. Don’t get into this business unless you have that passion. If you do, then the long hours and hard work won’t matter to you.

Always stay positive. Your mind has great power. If you continually think positive thoughts, you will be more likely to succeed. Never let those around you know when you’re stressed or tired. Take control of your emotions by focusing on the good.”

Jacques Torres shop, NYC

According to a 2009 Forbes article, Jacques Torres Chocolate, launched in 2000, today comprises 50+ employees, two factories and five retail stores in New York, Atlantic City and Michigan, while pulling in $10 million in revenue in 2008, up 43% from 2007.

Forbes further reports: “That’s some tasty growth in a crowded $16 billion industry, especially at the high end where Torres plays. Small gourmet shops have caught fire in the last decade. About a dozen niche chocolatiers have popped up in New York City in the last five years. Even Hersey has piled on: spending $60 million to acquire Joseph Schmidt Confections and Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, two San Francisco chocolatiers, and a year later, scooping up Dagoba Organic Chocolate in Portland, Ore.”

If you think the sweet smell of chocolate  is calling your name toward pastry arts school, it is only a matter of finding a place to learn.

Matters Of Fact:

• Many Americans believe that chocolate has a positive influence of their psychological and physical well-being — 52% say chocolate boosts morale and 46% say it revitalizes them.
• New advertising messages suggest that chocolate is heart-healthy (especially on Valentine’s day).
• When people say they’d kill for a chocolate bar, they don’t actually mean what they say: strictly speaking, an addict may kill for a fix but chocoholics experience a craving — not an addiction.
• Video game makers have developed a series of chocolatier adventures with sweet success similar to the Farmville experience.
• The Lindt chocolate company has annual sales of $2.1 billion. The Barry Callebaut company has annual sales of $3.5 billion.

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A student, (I’ll call her Student One), said she would really, REALLY like to work in the White House. “Hmm,” quoth I. I then mentioned her dream job to another member of the culinary faculty, who told me one of the chef/instructor’s teaches the new chefs employed at Camp David.

That same afternoon, I told another class about this amazing piece of information. Another student, (Student Two), in this class revealed she had recently worked as a sous chef on Air Force One.

Upshot. With these connections and a couple of letters of recommendation, Student One is applying for a job at the White House.

This is actually true, (though I confess that I’m capable of elaborating the truth for the sake of a good story).

I mention this as yet another example of If you don’t ask for what you want, the chances of getting it are pretty close to zero.

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Blueprint of the first dishwasher, approximately 1850

The unforeseen consequences of the introduction of the dishwasher at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair is the loss of intimacy between mothers and daughters.

It was a time to talk: when Mom washed the dishes, one daughter dried them,  the other put them away — and the son went to the bathroom.

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David Ansel, the Soup Peddler

It’s been snowing so much lately and much as I love my students at the CIA, all I wanted to do today was stay at home and read by the fire after making a pot of mushroom barley soup. This reminded me of a unique food job: soup peddler extraordinaire David Ansel and cookbook author. I asked David to write about himself for my Food Jobs book. Here he describes how he created his unique recipe for success.

“An idea occurred to me whilst sitting on a porch swing at a magical house in South Austin, Texas: What if I could make a living cooking food and taking it to people’s homes? At the time I was at my wits end, trying to figure out anything I could do for a living instead of being a mediocre computer programmer, I figured making soup was worth a try. Soup was the only thing I knew how to make halfway decently.

Though I had no culinary training, I had dabbled with cooking dinners for large groups and had been spending time at the restaurant supply store. There I found little white buckets that would be perfect for taking food to folks’ houses.

Once I decided which soups to make, I had to think about how to get it where I wanted it to go. I don’t like driving and much prefer to ride my bike. I decided to deliver soup by bicycle around my neighborhood.

I needed a name for the business. I went back to the porch swing. Soup Subscription Service for Savory Soul Sustenance? Probably not. The Soup Man. Eh. Need something cute. How about Soup Peddler? Soup Peddeler? Which spelling to use? I’ll use Peddler, just in case this thing gets too big for bikes.

I sent an e-mail to my friends and neighbors describing the service. Sunday afternoon, I’ll bring you a bucket of soup on my bike. Seventeen brave customers took me up on the offer. I went out and bought an eighty-dollar pot and made gumbo in my own kitchen (not entirely legal but I had to start somewhere).

Three short years later, my staff of soup makers, peddlers, and I cook and distribute 10,000 gallons of dozens of different varieties of soup to the porches of Austinites over the course of an eight-month soup season. We now work out of a commercial kitchen. I also realized that it was not about soup, it was about lovingly-made food.

the Soup Peddler's Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes & Reveries

I became the Ferris Bueller of Austin, liked and respected by hipsters, soccer moms, and tattooed punks equally. I have been referred to as an “American folk hero.” My cookbook, The Soup Peddler’s Slow and Difficult Soups: Recipes and Reveries, followed.

How did this happen? The task of describing the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial effort is nearly impossible. Boot camp for the Army? Nothing. Swimming the English Channel? Yawn. Raising a child? Yeah, sorta. Spending an eternity pushing a boulder up a hill? You’re starting to get there. Of course, most of those comparison cases have their rewards, and entrepreneurship does too.

Starting your own business means you never look at the world or the people around you the same way again. It takes every ounce of your soul, and the risk is that you’ll be left with nothing to show for your efforts. The potential reward is huge, though, not the least of which is having your destiny under your own control as much as is humanly possible.”

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The conference took place at the most charming Roger Smith Hotel, which offered such a sense of intimacy, enhanced with the opportunity to touch the hems of so many (but simultaneously, so few) brightly shining gowns. There were impressively credentialed and wonderfully informative speakers. If you were not able to attend, may I strongly suggest that you watch the wonderful sessions online.

The conference hoped to examine the future of food writing and the affect technology is having on veteran and budding food writers of all stripes. Once it started, those in the audience couldn’t stop tweeting about it. Here’s a sampling of the pearls of knowledge revealed:

- “Your job is to make your career work. Food writers can either be victims or victors,” according to David Leite, founder of Leite’s Culinaria, “be Gutenberg, not a monk!”

- Kara Newman, author of the new Spice & Ice, learned: “1) the publishing industry hopes iPad will be its salvation; 2) “bloggers hold ALL the power” & [know it]; 3) food writing is alive but evolving.”

- Laura Weiss, of foodandthings.com: “The 3 keys to writing effectively online: 1) Keep in mind- the computer screen (increasingly as small as cell phone screens – so keep [it] short, in chunks), 2) readers rule (engage them); 3) Google rules, make your headlines and first words clear and descriptive.

- Joe Langhan, founder of the TV Food Network, stated: “TV is good for conveying passion and emotion; print is better for conveying fact; the Internet can combine both and that is the big opportunity.”

- Renee Schletter Rossi, deputy editor of Leite’s Culinaria, revealed: “traditional media and online can complement each other and need to work together.”

- Elissa Altman of Poor Man’s Feast, describing the current state of recipe writing and food blogs, said, “The net is the still the Wild, Wild West when it comes to food. There is nothing more important than for food colleagues to help each other.”

There are already murmurings about having another conference next year and I’m sure the pressure will build to do so. I just hope it doesn’t become much bigger.

Update (2/17/10): Andy Smith has promised to provide any updates from this conference and plans of any future conferences-which I’ve promised to post here! Check back if you’re interested. He is a darling.

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FOOD JOBS really all goes back to two themes I’ve embraced throughout my professional life: finding a niche and taking a risk.

I remind myself that I originally wrote this book to explain and explore for:

Butchers and bakers

And tillers of acres

And food-trivia players

And carrot purveyors

And wielders of woks.

For food fashion leaders

And recipe readers

And fitness-freak jocks.

And salesmen

Who breakfast on lox,

For taste counterfeiters

And writers of letters

And restaurateurs

And entrepreneurs

And connoisseurs.

For greeters

And seaters

Of meeters for brunch

And ladies who lunch.

For winers

And diners

And buyers making deals by the bunch.

For eaters of noodles

And bakers of strudels.

And packers

And craters

And vanishing head waiters

And food innovators who act on a hunch.

For sommeliers with tastevin flying

So clearly implying

They’d like a gratuity

Akin to an annuity

And then a drop more.

For cake decorators

And cookbook creators

And people who munch.

In short, this is neat

For all who eat…

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Bocuse d'Or Award

This past weekend, a most important culinary competition was held at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY. Twelve finalists–five of whom are CIA alumni–competed for the honor of representing the U.S. in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest, that will be held January, 2011 in Lyon, France.

The competition takes place only every two years, and was established in 1987 by world-renowned French Chef Paul Bocuse. It is the preeminent international culinary competition in which teams of one chef and one commis from 24 countries compete for top honors and international acclaim. (It is the equivalent of winning the gold medal at the 2010 Olympics-winter or summer.)

These 12 finalists had a mere three hours to do the early preparation work on Friday prior to the final contest that was held Saturday. They had five-and-a-half hours to complete one Scottish wild salmon platter and one American lamb platter. The chefs were required to make a total of 12 servings for each platter, which also had to have three garnishes.

At the competition’s end, James Kent, 30, was chosen as winner. He is currently employed as the sous chef at Eleven Madison Park in New York City.

Jérôme Bocuse, the son of Paul, is a chef and a CIA graduate. He serves as a judge for the cooking contest along with other chef luminaries including Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud.

Yet, I think I am safe in saying that none of the 800 spectators at the CIA knew about a (prior) dinner that was staged at a rented villa in the south of France.

The hosts were a couple of wealthy New Yorkers. The guests included the legendary Paul Bocuse and nine famous multi-starred French chefs. The hosts had dined in the various chefs’ restaurants for many years. They would leave generous tips at the conclusion of each meal. Thus they were remembered — vividly.

One year, the New Yorkers decided to turn the tables and invite the illustrious chefs to a “home-cooked” dinner at their rented villa. The main course was roast lamb.

Paul Bocuse was invited to carve the lamb. He walked slowly to the head of the table. He grasped the carving knife. He rested the fork on the surface of the lamb. A moment passed. Then another…

Sadly, he shook his head. “Madame,” he murmurred, “C’est terrible.”

“What?!,” wailed the hostess. “What’s terrible?”

“Ah, Madame…,” replied Bocuse mournfully. “You see, when the little lambs are in the field, the flies come. The lamb uses his right hind leg to brush away the flies. The right leg therefore gets more exercise than the left leg so it is more muscular. The left leg is more tender…”

“Madame,” he explained (with a twinkle in his eye), “you have chosen the wrong leg.”

The assembled chefs roared with convivial laughter.

The dinner was a huge success.

Paul Bocuse, (now 84?), lives on while all who know him tell stories of his genius, and his legendary sense of humor.

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