Association of Food Journalists

From left, Southern Livings Sid Evans, CNNs Kat Kinsman, and The New York Timess Kim Severson address food writers at the 2014 AFJ Conference.

From left, Southern Living’s Sid Evans, CNN’s Kat Kinsman, and The New York Times’s Kim Severson address food writers at the 2014 AFJ Conference.

There’s no one way to write about food. In his memoir A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle opts for a worldly insouciance, describing a civet of hare with something approaching religious reverence. Meanwhile, in Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain writes prose that explodes like a cluster bomb.

Which got me to thinking: What’s the best way to write about food? How do you stand out from the crowd? Should your writing reflect popular tastes or try to lead them? And how the heck do you manage social media, anyway?

I put these questions to attendees—both distinguished and little-known—at the 2014 conference of the Association of Food Journalists (AFJ). It was held, these past few days, right here in Memphis, at the Peabody.

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These are their answers.

Kim Severson, The New York Times: “There’s a sense of panic in the industry. And that’s where the tent poles matter—these bastions of real journalism and quality food writing. In this crazy digital marketplace, we think it’s important to have these touchstones of real knowledge.”

Kat Kinsman, CNN’s Eatocracy: “Trying to manage social media is like trying to pack a suitcase on top of a moving car. You used to be able to go out into the world and experience things, then come back to the office and write a story. Those days are gone.”

Sid Evans, Southern Living: “There is no more intimate connection you can have with a reader than when they take a recipe from your site, make it for their family, and the family says, Hey! That was great!”

Nancy Leson, The Seattle Times: “One of my managing editors once said to me, go read Tom Wolfe, and then write me a lede. No sentence should be more than seven words; no word should be longer than two syllables.”

Patricia West-Barker, The Santa Fe New Mexican: “What idea are you passionate about? At this point, food is so big that you can’t do it all. I see my writing as a community service, so I focus on farmers and local businesses.”

Kat Kinsman, CNN’s Eatocracy: “I really have a ½ second rule for myself. If something doesn’t grab my attention in ½ of a second, I close the tab.”

Sid Evans, Southern Living: “Images are everything. People eat with their eyes. Somehow we have to draw people into the magazine, and usually we’re doing that with pictures.”

Kat Kinsman (left) of CNNs Eatocracy and Kim Severson of the New York Times address food journalists from around the country at the 2014 AFJ Conference.

Kat Kinsman (left) of CNN’s Eatocracy and Kim Severson of the New York Times address food journalists from around the country at the 2014 AFJ Conference.

The Association of Food Journalists (AFJ) is an elite society about which little is known. Much like the Illuminati or the Freemasons, they gather in secret, donning strange robes and reading from arcane manuscripts. The extent of their holdings has only been guessed at.

Until now. This year, the AFJ is holding its [annual conference] in Memphis, and the Flyer has been able to secure unprecedented (OK, somewhat precedented) access to its secret meetings. Be advised: the following content may not be suitable for young children.

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Big Barton performing at the food truck rodeo

Big Barton performing at the food truck rodeo

The conference began on Wednesday with a food truck rodeo in Court Square. Attendees were treated to some of Memphis’s finest street food, including kebabs from Stickem and pizza from Rock’n Dough Pizza Co. Meanwhile, Big Barton provided the entertainment, performing classic country hits like “Ring of Fire” and “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys.”

After lunch, AFJ members retired to the Peabody Hotel for a series of staged talks. One of the first was a conversation between Kim Severson of the New York Times and Kat Kinsman of CNN, who discussed the problem of getting readers to pay for food journalism in the age of Buzzfeed and Reddit.

“My friend David Carr likes to say, you gotta open up the kimono a little bit,” said Severson. “Although if I’m being honest, you probably don’t want David to open his kimono.”

By “opening the kimono,” Carr and Severson meant going behind the scenes and revealing more of the writer’s craft: how a story was discovered, how it was reported. For her part, Kinsman seemed to agree.

“The kimono,” she said, “is back at home, in the closet. At this point we’re walking around naked.”

The day wrapped up with a Smokin’ Taste of Memphis at the Stax Museum. Here, journalists were treated to a series of small plates that showcased Memphis’s culinary talent—everything from charcuterie to barbecue pizza to bread pudding. Participating chefs included Kelly English, Erling Jensen, and Michael Hudman.

The 2014 AFJ Conference continues today and tomorrow, with talks by Melissa Peterson of Edible Memphis and Justin Fox-Burks of the Chubby Vegetarian.