Deez Interviews: Meet the Eater staff writer who’s shaking up the food media bubble

Happy Friday, Deezers! This week’s interview is with Eater’s Jenny G. Zhang, who we first highlighted last year via her excellent review of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. In our Q&A, we chatted about food writing as it has to do with gatekeeping, “flooding,” and offering a lens into inequality and more. Enjoy the read!

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The interviewee: Jenny G. Zhang (follow her @jennygzhang!)

The gig: Staff writer

How did you first get interested in writing about food?

I had never been planned to write about food or food culture professionally—I sort of fell into it! In 2016, I joined Eater's audience team as the newsletter editor, and through that exposure to this whole new world of food media, was able to gain an appreciation for all the interesting ways writers and editors were pushing the boundaries of what it means to cover food and dining culture. I didn't actually start seriously writing/publishing until 2018, though, as my full-time work until very recently has been primarily audience development, newsletters, social, etc.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about writing about food as a job?

I think a lot of people — particularly outside of the media bubble — still think food writing exclusively means eating at and reviewing restaurants all the time (only restaurant critics do that!). I don't blame anyone for holding this misconception; there's a lot of obfuscation surrounding how media works, even more so for service-overlapping types of journalism like food.

But there's obviously more to food writing than just recipes or recommendations on where to eat, as fundamental as those are to the genre. Food writing can and should include just as much reporting, analysis, criticism, narrative, data, etc. as any other kind of journalism.

A lot of your stories at Eater cover the intersection of the food industry and inequality — like the stories about Sweetgreen accepting cash, a Taco Bell hiring party, and labor abuses at hazelnut farms. Is that a beat you've kind of sought out consciously?

Maybe not consciously, but I am definitely looking to focus on the intersections of food and everything else, including inequality, gender, race, politics, pop culture, etc. Those are all topics I pay attention to in my personal time, so now that I write for Eater, my goal is to use food as an entry point and an excuse to write about all these other (many, varied) things I'm into, whether that's labor or memes. I'm not really interested in being a "food writer" so much as someone whose work happens to touch upon food and x, y, z.

I think about your review of Salt, Fat, Acid Heat from last fall all the time. It feels like there's never been a more "democratic" playing field for diverse voices in food media — anyone can start a food blog or Instagram their cooking, for example. But does that mean the landscape is so fractured that only the Samins and Alison Romans of the world really rise to the top? I'm curious what you think about the big food "authorities" of today.

I think gatekeeping is never going to go away, especially because a big barrier to entry to certain types of food writing/influencing/taste making is purely socioeconomic: who is able to dine at trendy new restaurants every night? who has access to airy kitchens and full pantries and nice photographic equipment? who can attend culinary school? who is more likely to be hired by food publications? who gets to be considered an "authority" and who gets the most visibility and press and access to capital?

Nonetheless, I think the internet has allowed so many more people to bypass traditional gatekeepers like magazines, TV networks, culinary school, etc. As you say, anyone — in theory — could attempt a foray into food media as long as they have access to a bare minimum of necessary resources (like, there's a farmer in rural China who started livestreaming on the platform Kuaishou and now has 14 million followers and a sponsored cooking show!).

In general, I think people are tired of the old guard and want fresh voices and perspectives — or, to put it another way, there are a lot of people whose stories have been appropriated and co-opted without proper credit or representation, and now many are finally getting to have their say within the broader discourse. And, by and large, plenty of readers/viewers/consumers seem into it, judging from the reception to shows like SFAH and Street Food, the rise of food writers like Soleil Ho and Mayukh Sen, and overall receptiveness to cuisines and approaches that wouldn't even have been entertained by mainstream American/Western audiences 20 years ago.

Now I think we just need to take care to resist what you describe, that phenomenon termed "flooding" by culture critic Soraya Roberts: in which storytellers driven by the same trends unleash the same kinds of stories at the same time en masse in our supposedly "democratized" ecosystem, only for the same few prominent voices — as diverse as they may be, compared to previous generations — to float to the surface each time. That's not exclusive to food media, of course; web writing and culture at large are mired in sameness, which is deeply boring!!!!!

Your email newsletter, Annotations, focuses on doing a close reading (and annotating, of course) of magazine features. What are some trends you’ve seen in magazine journalism lately that you love and/or hate?

Hate: Skimping on rich, well-reported celebrity profiles by actual writers, in favor of what amounts to transcripts of celebrities being interviewed by their equally famous friends. Too much access journalism and niceness and smarm all around.

Love: Not so much a uniquely recent trend, per se, but I love a good "I" in a feature, if it enhances the piece. There are a lot of instances in which authors making themselves part of the story is distracting rather than additive, but I think many writers now — certainly many of my faves, at least, e.g., Caity Weaver, Jia Tolentino, Sarah Miller — are excellent at striking that balance of personal resonance and larger themes that I think is partially the result of formative years spent reading and writing on the internet.

Last q: let's say you get a huge stipend to do a 2-week food tour anywhere in the world. Where would you go?

India! I love Indian food a lot and would love to try more regional varieties.

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Don’t forget to follow @jennygzhang on Twitter, and have a great long weekend!