What does a food reporter eat? Two dozen doughnuts, for one story, scallops at five different restaurants for another. What about in “real life,” on a first date, when home alone, or cooking for someone special? Beginning May 13, New York Times Dining In/Dining Out Reporter Amanda Hesser will share her experiences and adventures with food in “Food Diary: Confessions of a Woman Who Loves Food Too Much,” a new column in The New York Times Magazine. “Food Diary” will alternate with Jonathan Reynolds’s “Food” column and together replace freelancer Molly O’Neill’s food coverage.
Hesser is a trained cook, cookbook author and food reporter while Reynolds, a playwright and screenwriter, boasts no food credentials apart from loving to eat. “Any reporter who covers a beat obsesses on his or her subject,” said Amy Spindler, style editor of The New York Times Magazine. “Amanda Hesser’s reporting on food has revolutionized The New York Times, and now magazine readers can get insight on how thinking about food – perhaps too much – affects her everyday life. Her insider’s perspective complements Jonathan’s layman’s perspective, providing a fun `she said/he said’ quality to our coverage.”
“Food Diary” debuts with “The First Supper,” in which Hesser recalls the first meal she cooked for her boyfriend. “First meals are intimate … Dinner guests can see by how you compose a dinner if you are an ungenerous hothead or a nurturer, stingy or clever, fussy or stylish. Which is probably why I lost sleep over what to cook for him.” With warmth and humor Hesser relates the meal’s highs (a successfully roasted guinea hen) and the lows (the smoked salmon starter – he didn’t like smoked fish) and includes the recipes.
“Food Diary” will take inspiration from Hesser’s life and will provide continuing story lines with returning characters, while Reynolds’s “Food” column will continue to range far and wide with eclectic stories about authentic tamales made by Mexican immigrants to pineapple upside-down cake.
Hesser has apprenticed and cooked in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, and is the author of “The Cook and the Gardener.” She joined The Times in 1997 and has covered topics from manzanilla sherry in Spain to the cranberry industry to the use of salt as a seasoning in desserts.
The New York Times celebrates its 150th anniversary this fall. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, the New-York Daily Times, as it was known, began as a four-page paper. It soon became a success, appealing to readers who wanted impartial coverage of the day’s news. Today, The Times circulates to 1.1 million readers daily (1.7 million on Sundays) and has more than 1,200 newsroom employees in 47 news bureaus worldwide. The newspaper is now available nationally, while The New York Times on the Web (www.nytimes.com) reaches a worldwide audience. Committed to producing the finest possible news report every day, The New York Times has won 81 Pulitzer Prizes, far more than any other news organization.
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