Will Write for Food, by Dianne Jacob

[Lucy Elise Peters]

Will Write for Food, by Dianne Jacob
First printing 2005, Second Printing 2010 by Lifelong Books, Berkley, CA

I truely enjoyed reading this book, have wanted to for some time, hope you will be inspired to look it up to get your food writing juices flowing. 

 
Will Write for Food is a definitive guide book for all the popular food writing genres. Diane Jacob, a freelance writer & former magazine editor, got her own start in the world of food writing shortly after receiving her journalism degree in Vancouver, Canada. Judging books for the James Bread Foundation and teaching writing in the Bay Area, she also keeps busy with her own blog.
Ms. Jacob takes you through the various genres with tips, publishing guidelines and writing exercises to whet your appetite. A few of the topics she discusses are: Characteristics of a food writer, blogging, freelancing for magazines, restaurant reviewing, the art of recipe writing, publishing your own cookbook, food memoirs, fictional writing (food focused), and naturally, a definition of what constitutes good food writing. The genres she covers are broad, but thorough, to help the neophyte or seasoned writer delve into the rewarding world of food writing.
I particularly enjoyed the chapters on recipe writing and blogging, two areas I hope to focus on for my own students this school year. I do write recipes or at least, rewrite them to reflect the competencies of my students. Her chapter discusses the importance of choosing wording that is universal and isn’t too obscure. I hope to have my students writing their own recipes with her techniques. Examples are given through the end of chapter exercises. These examples would inspire any teacher of writing with fresh ideas for getting the class writing.

[After talking with several of you, I realize I need to clarify.  I will be hosting the blog on our school website only.  It will not be on the www.  It will be available to other students looking at my class website and parents as a PR and recruiting tool. ]    :)

1) How could student’s writing improve through creating their own recipes and publishing them in a salable cookbook?

I plan to teach the importance of standardizing the recipe method, drafting a head-note, and creating a focus or theme for the recipes we are developing.

2) What types of things need to be considered when starting a class blog about what we are cooking/studying in our culinary class?

Pre-writing topics will be developed during in-class journals. With that in mind, the posts would be more consistent with our learning, and would reflect a more static blog.

[Doug Zimmerman]

Lucy -

Because cookbooks are familiar texts to most students, I can easily see this applying to classes that focus on publishing.  Writing recipies, collecting them, editing them, taking pictures of final products (Leigh's graphics), and publishing a cookbook would be a fantatstic and relatable introduction into the publishing world. 

Blogging is also a great way to get students involved with writing; it is a format they are familiar with and one that many would like.  But blogs can be intensive work for instructors.  Certainly for someon like me who is less than adept with technology would have long hours of reading and responding to posts.  And a lot of cautionary tales have come from instructors using blogs who neglected to regulate student posting and ended up with long rants, bigoted prose, and other negative writing.  I think the idea has merit but until I get use to blogs and become better educated about their pedagogical application, I remain positive about them but hesitant to use them. 

[Laurel Topken]

Lucy,

Your idea about having a class cookbook published sounds good.  I especially think that having students write something about the recipes either as a memoir or headnote will help develop their writing.  The instruction portion of the recipe would be helpful too because of the need for clarity.  I think having a section with a process analysis would be beneficial to the students writing as well.

Blogging could be great but the method of overseeing it would need to be clear and well maintained.  It would be very easy for students to take advantage of the medium if not closely watched.  I would imagine that it would be a place for the students to talk about their cooking and creating so you wouldn't need to give feedback on all of the comments but have a firm hand on the managing to make sure that unwanted posts are able to stay very long.

 

Laurel

 

 

[Tracey Albee]

Lucy,

 

I think that creating a class cookbook can improve student writing because students understand that when something is published it has to be near perfect. This means that students will really take a look at a recipe that they created and make sure that it can be used by someone who is going to use it. Students will have to edit and revise to make sure that the language is friendly to anyone who will use the recipe. Also, students love having things published so I think they would like this idea.

 

Blogging on topics discussed in class is a fantastic idea. A couple of things to consider when starting a class blog is teaching the students about respect of writers, whatever they post will be on there forever, and knowing that you can take their response of if it is inappropriate. I think that using a blog is a good idea because many students are familiar with this format. I would set a word count limit or a response limit for them. Kind of like what we have to do for this class, respond to at least five posts. I also think that talking to your students about reflection and analysis in responses not just giving opinions. They need to be able to support their opinions with facts. They should break down what the topic is, reflect upon it and then give a response.

 

Overall I think your two ideas for your class are great and can be used across the curriculum. I think it would be fun to make recipes about different topics in English. It would go along the lines of Michelle's book she shared in class.

 

See you soon!

 

Tracey

[Gail Corthell]

Hi Lucy

I think that writing and publishing a salable cookbook would really engage your students!  I can't think of a better way to get them to think about writing a detailed "how-to."  It also might be interesting to have them each make a recipe that was written by another student as a 'vetting' process to see if any details were forgotten.  What a great way for a student to get feedback!  Also, publishing a book would be an awesome way for kids to share their writing (by selling them, of course) with family and friends. 

 

Put me on your mailing list when it is finished!

 

Gail