Will Write 4 Food (Show and Tell)

I know a guy who hunts for wild mushrooms. He even offered to take me with him once, which is apparently a huge gesture of respect and trust among mushroom pickers because the location of a man's 'shroomin grounds is a closely kept secret. But then he told me I'd have to wear a blindfold until we reached his sacred spot in a remote forest -- the prospect of which, quite frankly, gave me the willies.

I never did find out if he was kidding about the blindfold. While I'm about 99% sure he was a legitimate mushroom hunter and probably wasn't planning the perfect murder, I didn't push my luck. My vague interest in tromping around in the dirt for an afternoon was far outweighed by my extreme interest in not spending eternity there.

Maybe that's in part why I was drawn to this Bon Appetit article as my example of good food writing. Chalk it up to curiosity fulfilled, but the piece peels back the blindfold (so to speak) on mushroom hunting -- an activity that most people know exists, but few ever take part in.

When I think of food writing, I generally think of an analysis of an ingredient, a review of a restaurant or a description of a meal. But this article is a telling of an experience, and an obscure one at that. It's entertaining and unexpected.

This story even gave me a creative lead on my concept for our first project, by demonstrating food writing doesn't have to be simply a recipe or a nutrition table.