You know you want to go to culinary school and a career in food is definitely the goal but maybe restaurant work isn’t your thing. We hear you — we get a lot of career changers at San Francisco Cooking School, both as students and as teachers.
We make it a point to introduce our students to all kinds of opportunities in food, and it’s amazing how many of the guests we have in the kitchen have come to food as their second career. In this Changing Careers series, we talk to those brave souls who have made that leap of faith to follow their dream of a career in food.
John Birdsall has been coming by the kitchens here for a few years. A James Beard award winning food writer, he shares his story of working his way through kitchens before finding his career as a writer.
Whether it’s food trucks in Fruitvale or tacos with Jeremiah Tower in Mérida, Mexico, John has clearly found his dream job, pen in hand:
What did you do in your previous life?
I started my career as a restaurant and catering cook (I can’t claim title to “chef”) — for a little more than 15 years, mostly in San Francisco, a bit in Chicago. My first job, a 3-year apprenticeship, really, was at Greens at Fort Mason, under Annie Somerville. It was the best job I had, before I began writing seriously. I dabbled in writing at the time — took a class, wrote a few food pieces for a now-defunct LGBT publication in SF, the Sentinel — and dreamed of someday leaving the kitchen to write full time. It took a while.
What drew you to a career in food?
Curiosity, maybe more than anything (same thing that led me into the kitchen): a hunger for finding out the stories behind things, behind chefs and their food. Also a strong urge for self-expression, which I also expressed as a cook.
Can you tell us about what you’re doing now?
I am a freelance writer and editor for several publications: Lucky Peach, Eater (national), Saveur (online), SF Chronicle. I also just turned in a manuscript for a new book.
I began food writing in 2002 — I’ve survived (with the help of my husband’s salary) as a freelance writer, a staff food writer for a couple of alternative weeklies (East Bay Express and SF Weekly, when both were in the Village Voice Media chain), I was food critic for the Contra Costa Times for 2 years, and a critic for San Francisco magazine under Jan Newberry, a great editor. I’ve been at CHOW.com for a little over 3 years.
Do you ever regret the career change?
Never. Writing has brought me deeper into the kitchen in a way — not cooking, or wrist-deep in food, but into the reasons why other people cook, into stories of the food they loved when they were kids, maybe, or how food works, in a neighborhood like Fruitvale in East Oakland, to define life for people. Maybe part of my motivation for leaving the kitchen was a feeling that I needed to get a bigger picture on food than I could get tethered to the same kitchen every day.
How did having your prior career make you better at what you do now?
Cooking gave me discipline, an outlet for my already strong work ethic and drive — but it also gave me empathy and insight into people who cook for a living, or wait tables, or scrub pots in the dish room. As a writer, and especially a critic, it’s easy to have a very high opinion of yourself: You’re a tastemaker, readers listen to you, believe what you tell them. The risk of being a writer and critic is that it can make you arrogant, despite your best intentions.
Having a history in the kitchen gave me a grounding in the humanity of what the food industry is really all about: people trying to make a living, supporting their families, expressing themselves, working out their ideals. I can still remember what working 14-hour days on my feet feels like. I try to keep that memory fresh when I consider the food on my plate in a restaurant: It did not get there easily or without sacrifice.
If you were to give a piece of advice to culinary students looking to pursue a career in food, what would it be?
Find mentors, people you admire, who you’re jealous of, who you want to copy, and reach out to them. Even if they have nothing to offer you right now, you’ll make a connection that will probably be helpful someday. Nobody in food accomplishes anything alone, truly maverick-style: We’ve all been pushed along, catapulted, and most of all actively inspired by others who came before. Seek out the people you admire and let them know you admire them, ask them for advice, if you can sit down for coffee, if you can work for them.
How has your career evolved/morphed over time — and how does your field look different than it did five years ago? Is it harder or easier to break into the field these days and why?
I started writing in 2002, when the Bay Area had five independent newspaper food sections (not counting alternative weeklies) with budgets for freelance writers. I actually got my break when Julie Kaufmann, food editor for the Mercury News, accepted some of my story pitches. Regional dailies were great places for new writers to build portfolios, and get relatively decent pay for it. Since then, outlets have consolidated, slimmed down, and lost their budgets. So it’s definitely more challenging today to break into the regional professional food writing market, formerly a great incubator for national talent. The good news is there are more opportunities now for breaking into national publications, from online versions of legacy print mags to Eater national to literary sites. The money is less these days, but chances for a byline in a national publication is better.
What was your “big break”?
As I mentioned, getting the nod from the food editor of the Mercury News to write some freelance food features. My bigger break was becoming the weekly food critic for the Contra Costa Times, and from that (after two years) I leapfrogged into the staff food writer position at East Bay Express. The biggest big break was winning a James Beard Award in 2014, which put me on the map for food editors in New York and got me my literary agents and ultimately a book deal.
What is the biggest misconception people have about your job?
That food writing means restaurant reviewing, which means eating at fabulous new places every night and not having to pay for it.
If we looked in your fridge right now, what would we find?
Oof: lactose-free Clover milk, macadamia nut milk (my husband’s), an open can of cat food, various pickles and olives and condiments, Tuscan kale and Nantes carrots from Berkeley Bowl, a hunk of Ivy cheddar, sliced American cheese, an open bottle of white wine from Tours, good Champagne for a special occasion, leftover homemade hummus and steamed cauliflower.
