Food Writing
My introduction to food writing was through an internship in my hometown of Taichung, Taiwan, where I wrote for a bilingual food and travel magazine called Compass. I had a blast, researching pieces such as “Almost Too Cute To Eat,” about cat-themed lattes and other cutesy desserts. I also learned to write practical and engaging travel pieces. Two stories I am particularly proud of are “Sun Moon Lake revisited” and “Exploring Hakka Culture in Miaoli.” I fell in love with writing about food and decided to pursue a career in food writing.
After this internship, I moved to the United States to study Journalism in the Literary Reportage program at NYU. Here, I learned how to report, produce, and research. My Master’s thesis was an audio piece about food and mixed raced identity.
During and after this program, I worked as a freelance food writer. For Westchester Magazine, I often wrote roundups, reviews, and a few news and feature pieces for the blog and newsletter. Some of my favorite articles include “Misfits Market Rescues and Delivers “Ugly” Produce,” where I interviewed the CEO Abhi Ramesh, and “Here’s Where to Find Taiwanese Food in Westchester.” I often tried to highlight Asian businesses and restaurants, such as in the piece “These Are 3 of Westchester’s Top Asian Grocery Stores.”
I also had the chance to write an article for Heated, “The Boba Diplomacy of Taiwan,” which was prompted by the infamous Taiwanese boba pizza and introduced Taiwanese restaurants in New York City.
As a freelancer for Mashed, I pivoted away from more journalistic pieces to write content for entertainment. Some pieces were also converted to video, including “What You’re Really Eating When You Eat A Beyond Burger (video),” “7 Best And 7 Worst Happy Meal Toys (video),” and “The Best Street Foods You Can Buy For $1 (video).” This was a fun experience, but it wasn’t quite aligned with my personal writing interests.
As much as a I enjoyed writing about food, I wanted to explore food writing in other genres, such as in creative nonfiction and fiction. Right now, I am completing my PhD in English with a concentration in Creative Writing (fiction) at Georgia State University, and that has been my focus for the last few years.
The pieces linked in this post are what I consider to be the more “traditional” examples of food writing. For food-themed personal essays, check out the Creative Nonfiction from the Genres page. For short stories and humor pieces, check out Fiction. Lastly, for food-related literary analysis, head over to Critical Essays.
Full List of Publications here.
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