"I know from my own experience, being hungry to write about food but clueless on where to start, that you need mentors and coaches willing to share what they know. It's easier to tell original stories in food, in whatever medium, when you feel part of a creative community engaged in the same work," explains John Birdsall, one of the Food Media Lab event chairs.
To open up the conversation and educate both those already in the industry and those who aspire to join it, the San Francisco Cooking School (SFCS) is launching their first ever annual Food Media Lab from June 17th-19th. The goal of this three-day workshop will be to "educate, inspire, and grow the industry's next generation of food media professionals," and attendees will learn things like pitching a story, how to plan a podcast, navigating a contract and more.
SFCS founder and director Jodi Liano explains, "Food media has exploded nationally in recent years with a stronger emphasis on diversity, personal narratives, politics, and progressive social movements. We are excited to host this event and bring together both aspiring and seasoned media professionals to learn from one another, openly discuss the media landscape, and explore the art of storytelling."
That's why "The Stories You Tell" is the common theme for this community workshop, and attendees will hopefully leave feeling inspired and armed with the knowledge and tools needed to bring their stories to life. Along with opportunities to rub shoulders with some of the brightest minds in the food world today, attendees can expect plenty of content to take home and interactive sessions around different aspects of food media: writing about food (cookbooks, memoirs, personal essays, blogging, and exploration of food culture), visual/audio media (photography, videos, and podcasting) and building your audience via social media.
And who will you meet and learn from at the Food Media Lab? Leading the charge with Liano are event chairs and award-winning authors, John Birdsall (Two-time James Beard Award-winning Writer) and Andrea Nguyen (James Beard Cookbook Award Winner). Some of the biggest names in the food industry will also be in attendance like Tejal Rao (California Restaurant Critic of The New York Times), Soleil Ho (San Francisco Chronicle Restaurant Critic; Host of podcast, The Racist Sandwich), Chris Ying (former Editor in Chief of Lucky Peach), Nik Sharma (San Francisco Chronicle "A Brown Kitchen" columnist and author of Season), Eric Wolfinger (food photographer and videographer), Andrew Friedman (Host of Andrew Talks to Chefs), and many more.
