You want to be part of the group, a member of the club. Everyone wants to belong somewhere. A way to enter in any social circle is to learn the group language. We can adopt…
Food, Media, & Culture
The Art of Serving Food: Dinner Table Etiquette
Serving food is a delicate act of communication. How much pie do you serve your friend at a dinner party? How much pasta do you spoon on your children’s plates? Who gets the last piece…
Storytelling with Food Photography
Scrolling through your Instagram and Pinterest for recipes leads to hundreds of food images. How do you stop to pick one? We choose a food image that makes our mouths water and sends our minds…
The Core to Storytelling is Simplicity: Insight from the Back of the Napkin
Simple storytelling is a core component to success. Complexity is a distractor. The Back of the Napkin (B.O.T. N.) column of Bon Appetit values a short story: your story should fit on the back of the…
Plan Your Life: Lessons from Cooking Shows
“You know those seasoning packets that come with the ham?” says Sunny Anderson on her cooking show Cooking for Real as she makes a holiday spiral ham. “Just can’t do it,” she says, shaking her…
Storyteller’s Tools: Passion, Smiles, Friendliness
We can learn from celebrated television personalities how to improve our performance in front of an audience, whether it is for your next meeting, classroom, blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or even television show. Storytelling requires…
How to Write a Thank-You Letter
Sending a note of thanks is a wonderful way to recognize someone and to let them know you care about them. Writing has become more informal over the years, and people are sending fewer hand-written…
The Secret to Compelling Storytelling: Simplicity
The Secret of Compelling Storytelling is Simplicity. Compelling stories start with great headlines that convey the one key message behind one idea. Keep it simple. According to Colin Powell, “Great leaders are almost always great…
3 Sources of Inspiration for Describing Food Color: Crayons, Eggplants, Rubies
Have you ever tried to describe a food or dish you recently had and wished you had the words for it? If you are a food blogger and writer, you have experienced creativity block (like…
5 Ways to Spark Your Creativity in Food Writing
Are you eager to develop your food writing skills but lack the time and inspiration to write? Has your source of creativity run dry? Here are 5 ways to spark your creativity in writing. With…