The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on September 17, 2025, 06:15:18 pm ---But isn't this criticizing an author for not writing what you think they should have written?
I don't think her point was to tell how the MN SF differed food-wise from other fairs.
--- End quote ---
True, but if the idea was to write about food at the MN SF, there's a feast of article possibilities (pun intended, obviously), so this is kind of an uninteresting way to do it. As Lee noted, the writer says she thinks the cookies are so-so, and the presentation is the main thing. OK, fair enough, then let's move on to a more interesting food.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on September 17, 2025, 10:48:51 pm ---
True, but if the idea was to write about food at the MN SF, there's a feast of article possibilities (pun intended, obviously), so this is kind of an uninteresting way to do it. As Lee noted, the writer says she thinks the cookies are so-so, and the presentation is the main thing. OK, fair enough, then let's move on to a more interesting food.
--- End quote ---
Perhaps I should go back and re-read the article, but my memory is that my take on it was that in the end the purpose was to write about a food that is immensely popular at the fair (even if only so-so), not to write about a variety of interesting foods that are or may be available.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on September 18, 2025, 11:02:34 am ---Perhaps I should go back and re-read the article, but my memory is that my take on it was that in the end the purpose was to write about a food that is immensely popular at the fair (even if only so-so), not to write about a variety of interesting foods that are or may be available.
--- End quote ---
It certainly wound up doing that. But since she actually went to the fair in person, she presumably could have written whatever she wanted. So you'd think she could have found a more interesting focus than a so-so food with unusual packaging.
Jeff Wrangler:
We've probably beaten this to death, I guess, but all I can really say for my conclusion is that I think it's perfectly fine to be disappointed in the article that was written (maybe not finish reading it) and to wish she had written something else, but I don't think she should be criticized for writing what she wanted to write, not what a reader may have preferred she had written.
Front-Ranger:
I guess I am criticizing Hannah Goldfield's whole mission, so it's more of an editing problem. She was the food reporter for the magazine covering developments in the New York food scene, but now she's based in Los Angeles, and presumably covering the food scene there as well as in places like Provincetown, Houston, and now Minneapolis. But she usually ends up writing about just one person or food that is not representative of that place and so it's basically a waste of time, IMHO.
Nor are her pieces illuminating about national or global food trends, sticking to topics as pedestrian as chocolate chip cookies. Her writing allows stereotyping to continue, not bringing an appreciation for diversity, exploration and playfulness in cooking.
How different than the legendary Mimi Sheraton, who also traveled and wrote about food across the world. She was the food editor of the New York Times, back in the day.
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