Food Writing

GUIDE TO NONFICTION COURSES
Nonfiction Pathways
Foundation
If you’re not sure what kind of nonfiction to write...
If you know what kind of nonfiction to write...
Or...
If you want a rather short course...
Next Steps
After completing a Level I ten-week course...
After completing Memoir II, if you want to write a book...
Selling Your Work
If you hope to get published somewhere...
Food Writing

Food Writing is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures, exercises, and the critiquing of student projects. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.

If you savor eating and drinking, food writing will suit your taste. You can write a review of a new restaurant in town, an article about the secrets of saffron, a story about helping grandma in the kitchen, or a collection of recipes for catfish. And you can experience the deliciousness of food writing without gaining a single pound.

Food writing requires a passion for food and the ability to summon its wonders in words. Here you will learn about the full spectrum of food writing—reviews, memoir, essay, articles, blogs, books—as well as writing craft and how to market your work.

Whether you seek to write about producing, preparing, or partaking of food, we’ll show you how to spice your writing just right.

About Food Writing
Food Writing

A welcome to the food world, the writing world, and the opportunity to discover who we are as writers and eaters.

Maria Aguirre

freelance writer

Notes

Gotham only offers Food Writing at Level I. After that, if you want to continue working on food pieces, you have these options:

    Memoir I or Memoir II – for food-related memoirs
    Essay & Opinion I – for food-related essays and reviews
    Feature Article – for food-related articles

Upcoming Classes

Masks are not required, but we’ll provide masks for those who want them. We are no longer requesting proof of vaccination.

More Covid details

Price

Registration fee $25, paid once per term

See Payment Options

To register for a 10-Week course, you need to pay in full to guarantee your place in class. Or you can pay a $95 deposit plus a $25 registration fee (total $120) to temporarily hold your place, but tuition must be paid in full 10 business days before your class starts or you risk losing your spot.

10-Week

Syllabus

This course gives you a firm grounding in the basics of food writing gets you writing a short piece (or two) or a book. Course components:
     Lectures
     Writing exercises
     Workshopping of student projects (each student presenting work two times)

New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.

Online classes 
Week 1
Introduction to Food Writing: Appeal of food writing. Types of food writing. Angle. Timeliness. Audience. What to write about. What a food writer needs.

Week 2
Memoir/Essay: Memoir—focusing on an aspect, telling a story, scene and reflection, facts and memory, people and place. Essay—topics, structure, personality.

Week 3
Journalism: Types of food articles—features, health, roundups, advice, front of book pieces. Angles. Structural mainstays—lead, nut graf, body, kicker. Food books. Point of view.

Week 4
Cooking: Cooking articles. Cookbooks. Writing about cooking.

Week 5
Reviews: Overview of reviewing. Facts and opinion. Structure. Creativity. Ethics.

Week 6
New Media/Photography: Blogs. Social networking. Photography 101. Photographic artistry.

Week 7
Description: Using the senses. Specificity. Techniques for creativity. Finding the right words. An eye for detail. Writing tight.

Week 8
Voice: Voice defined. Exploration of the various types of voice. Understanding style—syntax, diction, and paragraph length. Tone. Tips for finding your voice. Humor.

Week 9
The Business: Selling short pieces. Selling books. Query letters. Clip files. Targeting. Making contact. Response. Contracts.

Week 10
Research/Revision: Importance of research. Food writing resources. Plagiarism and “borrowing." The research process. The revision process. Editing.

Note: Content may vary among individual classes.

Teachers

Andrew Collins
Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins contributes to various guidebooks (including Mexico City, Pacific Northwest, New England, Utah, and National Parks) for Fodor's Travel, and he’s the author of the LGBTQ travel book Destination Pride and the book Ultimate Road Trips USA & Canada (both Hardie Grant). He’s the editor of the official visitor guides of Washington State, Washington State Wine Commission, Seattle, and Asheville, and has written for New Mexico Magazine, Travel + Leisure, The Advocate, and Sunset. He holds a BA from Wesleyan University.

Read more