Illustration by Anne Ferguson.
We made it to 2015! Hooray! This week we take a break from our regular Hot Links round-up for the first annual Feminist Food Writing Awards! Settle in, because you’ve got a lot of yummy reading to catch up on.
Right now, The James Beard Foundation is taking nominations for the best food writing and we’re anxious to see who will win. Unfortunately, submissions to the contest are $100 a pop. For a humble publication like RENDER, that’s a lot of cheddar. So, we decided to make our own list of the best food writing we read in 2014. Our criteria was simple: each piece had to be thoughtful, while also examining some aspect of the relationship between food and identity in a nuanced way. Looking back over the year, there was some really great food writing from a variety of different perspectives, so it was difficult to narrow it down. Here are our picks for the first annual Feminist Food Writing Awards:
"A Toast Story" by John Gravois. (Pacific Standard, January 13, 2014)
"A Change in the Kitchen" by Julia Moskin. (NYTimes, January 21, 2014)
"The Cost of Kale: How Foodie Trends Can Hurt Low-Income Families" by Soleil Ho. (Bitch Magazine, March 12, 2014)
"Sex, Sexism and the Natural Wine Label" by Rémy Charest. (Punch, June 25, 2014)
"Watching What We Eat: On the Complicated Politics of the School Cafeteria" by Kat Kinsman. (Gravy Quarterly, July 15, 2014)
"Life in Chains: Finding Home at Taco Bell" by John DeVore. (Eater, November 5, 2014)
"Myth Busts: The Enduring Legacy of Breast-Shaped Glassware" by Claire Carusillo. (Eater, December 10, 2014)
Think we missed something great from 2014? (We probably did!) Share your favorite food writing from 2014 in a comment below!
