A food-news smorgasbord

It’s not just for the food section anymore

By Culinate staff

March 7, 2011

Four years ago, when Culinate debuted, food journalism was generally still relegated to a newspaper’s food section, or perhaps a restaurant critic’s column. Sure, Michael Pollan was writing regularly for the New York Times Sunday magazine, and the New Yorker had begun its annual food issue a few years before. But it was rare to see food-focused journalism elsewhere in the media, except for the occasional scary news story (E. coli outbreaks, anyone?).

Times have changed. Take yesterday’s New York Times, for example. In addition to the expected food column in the magazine (newly penned by Mark Bittman), there were news articles about a potential ban in California on shark fins (a Chinese delicacy from an endangered species) and the resurgence of farming among young Americans, an op-ed on school-lunch reform in New York City, an essay about food waste, and a business feature on a natural-soda start-up.

Whew.