Some days before my food writing rant yesterday, something went wrong in the kitchen, a short crust fell apart. I was telling Tanu how she needs to share these stories of failure, of things going wrong, how eventually we picked up the crumbs and it still tasted good. The suggestion seemed original at the time, it seems it has been said and written a gazillion times. Just that social media has made us too embarrassed about sharing our failures.
I followed a few food photography blogs in the beginning. I follow none now. Why? Because they all look staged, too perfect, too much in sync, all perfect frames and all so well put together with hard to find props. And, now they are teaching these plastic surgery skills to others. God bless us!!
This brilliant brilliant piece is about travel writing. But so much of it applies to food writing too. In this suffocating pile of ”know everythings” and experts and what nots, tentative writing and a sense of discovery is dead. I hope some still hope to become writers and not brands. You are a human, not a toothpaste. Here is a quote from the article, read in full though.
” It is only when writers can admit they might be hopelessly homesick, and cursing the day they left home, that travel writing becomes credible and persuasive. Those are the makings of literature, not triumphal selfie-style despatches”
