How To Write Food Pitches, Send Me Some Today!
Pitches for AAA, HuffPost, Thrillist, Atlanta Magazine, Georgia Trend
If you are finding my Substack valuable, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and help this initiative stay afloat.
It was wonderful to see many of you at IMM North America last month! You also mentioned that you found my last post about Tips for preparing for Media Marketplace very helpful. I am so glad to hear that!
If you attended my panel discussion on The Changing Landscape of Media at the Summit, please feel free to send me your feedback or write a testimonial on LinkedIn.
And if you missed it, we talked a lot about important topics facing the travel industry today and the coming future, including print publication, freelancing and story ideas. Here’s a copy of the slide show with the questions we addressed.
If you would like me to dive deeper into the questions and present my findings with your team, book me for a speaking engagement! Contact sucheta@goeatgive.com
My 3rd TEDx talk is online!
In this one, I talk about the importance of traveling in silence and listening more citing examples of my travels to Japan, Tahiti and Rwanda.
On your next trip, try some of my suggestions…
Please watch, like and share.
How To Pitch Me Food Stories
You know that one of the genres I cover most is food. I am always looking for fresh, new ideas but a few pitches stand out more than others.
Think about words that are in and out with the new year. Food is no longer just that - delicious, yummy, scrumptious (OUT with that). Food is a meaningful way to explore a culture, express a story, relate to a person or a place, talk about important issues. And chefs are no longer just cooking their grandma’s recipes, using farm-to-table ingredients and doing what they are passionate about (I don’t want to hear any of those phrases). I want to know who is this person, why are they doing what they are doing, what makes them stand out from millions of other chefs, and why the heck should anyone care?
So, now it comes to pitching, are you stuck in the past or does your pitch worthy of a story? I was cleaning up my inbox today, and found some examples to share:
Keep This in Mind When Pitching Restaurant Stories, Chef Profiles, Etc.
OUT: new menu, number of courses, list of menu items, sought-after restaurant, passion in cooking, culturally innovative, sharing, local, visionary, culinary excellence, celebration of culture, national (something) day.
IN: Why we need to eat or drink this, spokesperson for an important issue (like climate change), personal challenge and overcoming it, impact of this restaurant/ business, first of its kind concept, relevant to what’s happening in the world today, cultural/ ethnic identity, micro cuisines, education, a new way to look at how we have been eating and drinking something.
Bad example: Embracing her grandmother's ethos, she carefully sources fresh, natural, and organic ingredients from local farms and farmers' markets, infusing her dishes with a medley of spices not only to elevate flavors but also to bring about added health benefits.
Good example: Flavor Temptations calls its home Madison, a city renowned for its culinary diversity and thriving, innovative food scene. Founded by husband-and-wife Sara Parthasarathy and Partha Sabniviss, Flavor Temptations is in over 50 school district menu cycles, most recently including the 2nd largest school district in the United States. Their USDA-compliant products align seamlessly with this growing demand, allowing schools to introduce students to new global flavors.
One of the best ways to find unique angles before you pitch is to TALK to the chef/ restauranteur yourself. Have an in-depth conversation about their personal lives, important issues they may be facing, and what are they doing to bring about change in the community.
My New Site!
I spent the last month working on my brand getting new headshots and a website makeover. Please take a look and let me know what you think.
PR Person of The Month!
The team from Rachel McAllister Consulting reached out to me in November pitching “one of the world’s best winter festivals” to honestly, a destination I had very little interest in - Minneapolis. But they followed up with very detailed story angles and offered to arrange for interviews and a hosted trip to experience firsthand. Rachel herself jumped in and coordinate a Zoom call for me with a celebrity chef in advance of my visit. She was super flexible in arranging my schedule, which activities I was particularly interested in (outside of the media trip), and even fully hosted my professional photographer assistant.
Rachel is one of the easiest PR people to work with, recognizing that freelance journalists need to identify their own story angles with a little bit of guidance. We also don’t want to be restricted by budgets, schedules and group dinners.
Recently Published
Curry For School Lunch for Khabar Magazine (PRINT)
Latin in All The Senses for Georgia Trend Magazine (PRINT)
Move Over Latte, Here Comes Matcha for Georgia Trend Magazine
The Israeli Chef Found Healing By Connecting With People Over Food for HuffPost
Yemenite Kubaneh for Atlanta Magazine (PRINT)
Not Ready for the Christmas Season to End? Head to This Part of the U.S. Where It Lasts Until February for Fodor’s Travel
5 Tips for Booking Your First Cruise for AAA The Extra Mile
Call for Pitches
It’s a bit too late for Valentine’s Day and I am headed to Fiji for the rest of the month, but please send me your pitches.
Do not attach photos in the email, working links are ok.
I read every EMAIL and will FILE for when I can find a good home. Please DO NOT FOLLOW UP on pitches unless they have a time sensitive hook or media trip.
Voices In Food: HuffPost
Let's uplift some voices who can speak to issues BIPOC face in the food world, whether it's in restaurants/business/at home/bars/etc. Specially interested in women, must have a strong voice and a personal story.
Top US Beaches: AAA
Do you follow Dr. Beach’s evaluations? What unique features distinguish top-ranked beaches and what’s the methodology behind these selections?
Various: Thrillist
Pitches with the explorations of zeitgeist travel trends, in-depth reported features exploring the intersection of travel and culture, place-based storytelling and unique profiles.
Peach Plate: Georgia Trend Magazine
Chefs, entrepreneurs, culinary products, food or drink trends, quirky festivals and events in the state of Georgia.
South Asian Food: Khabar Magazine
Indian, Pakistani, Nepali, Sri Lankan, Tibetan, Burmese restaurants, personalities, cookbooks, products and trends from anywhere in the world, but would interest South Asians living in the U.S.
Food: Atlanta Magazine
Specific food and drink related trends, human interest stories, unique dishes that diners may have not heard of but must try! I am not interested in round ups, new menus or one off events.
Please read my previous work and make sure the specific publication has not covered this story already.
Read my previous Substacks for lots of great tips including stories I am looking for and a monthly pitch calendar.