Cherry on the Cake

It's been a long day and I've been fantasizing about Gorgonzola on brushcetta under ribbons of pancetta topped with a dimesized schmear of fig jam... Let's just say I've been less than concentrated.

In the ho-hum routine of going to class you find things to get excited about; I tend to go toward the food fantasy which might hold more sexuality than is considered normal--but don't judge me for that. So when I get home from a long day of class-versus-fantasy, it completely throws me to discover that I have received a response from a food writer!

[Insert ridiculous giddiness here]

I sent a message to Duluth Superior Magazine, hopeful that someone would point me in the right direction and lucky for me they did. I received a response from Robert Lillegard, the restaurant writer of the magazine. His polite reply and willingness to help me with my inquiry was wonderful to see in my inbox. However, Mr. Lillegard didn't stop there: he actually read some of my blog and gave me some fantastic advice:

"Don't take yourself out of the running by giving up."

Viola! The cherry to my cake: some hope.

Remember when I was whining about nobody responding to my tweets/posts/e-mails/etc.? Uh yeah, that's because I wasn't trying hard enough. Lillegard has been published in Latina and Midwest Living, not to mention he's only a slim few years older than myself. So he's got real-life experience-- finally words from someone not in a book!.

So what do I do now with this golden nugget of inspiration? Well for one, it means that I've got to put my big-girl apron on and start to be more proactive if I want to be realistic about pursuing this career.

For two, like Lillegard says, it isn't impossible to break into the food writing business; this is by no means to say it is in any way easy, but I've really got to start to make a solid and persistent effort. That requires writing more about food, networking effectively, and keeping up with the latest publications in food.

And three, I really need to dig into the food industry from every angle. In my last blog I spoke about Secret Ingredients, The New Yorker  Book of Food and Drink--a book I hold close to my heart these days. It's a great place to start research. The book gives interesting anecdotes, pieces of history, and like most food-referencing books, a lot of technical terms and important people. This will be my introductory education since I didn't attend culinary school, and I need to be able to understand what everyone is talking about-- especially if I actually have people (well one person) responding to me now!