Food Writing with Hanna Raskin (in person at HVWC)

Eaters who fantasize about reviewing restaurants for a living tend to picture themselves sitting at a dinner table rather than a desk, because writing is the hard part of food criticism. But finding the words to capture a meal can be just as rewarding as locating the best curry in town, so long as you’re familiar with the process of observing, evaluating, and describing what’s on your plate. In this two-hour course covering the basics of food writing, each student will produce a capsule restaurant review suitable for posting online or printing in a regional publication.

To make the most of our time together, students will receive a short selection of preparatory readings, as well as a list of three affordable luncheonettes in the vicinity of the Writers Center. Please plan on patronizing one of them before our class meeting.

NB: this class will be taught in person in our historic Philipse Manor train station. It will capped at 12 students. For more information on getting to HVWC, please click here.

Hanna Raskin is the editor and publisher of The Food Section, a newsletter covering food and drink across the American South. In the year following its 2021 launch, The Food Section was named Best New Business by Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, and a Trailblazer by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. The Food Section received the Best Newsletter prize in the 2023 American Journalism Awards, sponsored by New York University’s Arthur. L. Carter Journalism Institute.

Raskin previously served as food editor and chief critic for The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina. Her work has been recognized multiple times by The James Beard Foundation, which in 2017 awarded her its first Local Impact Journalism medal. In 2023, Raskin won the James Beard award for Dining & Travel writing. A founding member of Foodways Texas and past president of the Association of Food Journalists, Raskin is an active alumnus of the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She’s a frequent contributor to Garden & Gun and serves as the Southern Foodways Alliance’s columnist.