Needed: Food/Culinary History Research Asst
Award-winning investigative food journalist seeks top-notch reporting assistant(s) for book research. Work is unpaid. Seeking commitment of 10 - 16 hours a week, and a minimum of 10 weeks of work. Start date flexible, ideally in early November 2010, continuing into the late winter/early spring. You can be based anywhere provided you’re techie enough to handle some of the applications we’ll be using, but I’ll mostly be in New York City and on the East Coast this fall.
ABOUT YOU
I’m looking for someone who’s a natural reporter, inquisitive and dogged as well as honest, straightforward and conscientious; you *must* be detail-oriented and capable of working without much supervision. You must also be interested in food, cooking and culinary history—and, ideally, about how these things dovetail with the American working class. Since this is unpaid work, it’s best if you want to pursue food journalism in the future.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
I am at work on a book about food and poverty for Scribner. Over the last year I’ve worked as a farm worker in California, a Wal-Mart grocery and produce stocker in the Midwest, and a cook at a Brooklyn Applebee’s for book research, and now I’m filling in the back-end policy-and-data reporting. The restaurant reporting is delving into the history of casual (but not fast food) dining in America, so I’m hoping to find someone who can geek out about food history to help with me on that work.
I’m also working to completely digitize my source documentation so that it can go online via DocumentCloud, so if that interests you, we can make that part of your work as well.
ABOUT ME: Tracie McMillan
I’m a food writer, but I write about people who work—usually in crappy jobs—for a living. I helped to pioneer the topics of food access and urban agriculture, breaking the latter for the New York Times, and developing the first analysis of food access in New York City for City Limits. I’ve been published in a range of national publications, including Harper’s, Slate, Salon, Saveur and the Atlantic Online. You can check out my work and bona fides, and get links to my blog and Twitter etc., on my website.
ABOUT COMPENSATION AND LACK THEREOF
I think it’s terrible that I can’t pay. I thought I’d say that up front. You’re welcome to scrutinize my tax return for proof of the fact that I can’t pay.
That said, I am very committed to helping younger, talented journalists find their niche and will be happy to serve as an enthusiastic reference and resource for you if the work goes well; I’ll of course credit you in the book in accordance with the work you do for me. Additionally, this reporting project will allow you to develop expertise in the kind of detailed reporting that sets great food writing apart from the basics, setting you up to find and do good stories in the future.
ABOUT APPLYING
If interested, please email me—address is on my website—by Nov. 1 with:
- Resume
- 1-2 clips that illustrate your reporting skills and interests
- A note explaining (a) your journalistic interests and/or interest in the project and (b) why you’d be a good person to hire for it.
