Ruth Reichl Comes To DC!

Ruth Reichl spoke at the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program at the National Museum of Natural History on Monday night. Joe Yonan, editor of The Post's Food section, led the discussion with Ruth as they talked about her new book, her future in the food/magazine industry and her new style of food writing via twitter!

Ruth Reichl was the last editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, a former food critic for the New York Times and the author of numerous books, including the memoirs "Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise" and "Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table."

Ruth spent a lot of her time with Joe talking about her latest book, "For You Mom, Finally." (Which I got for me and my mom for Mother's Day.) She started to write this book when she was asked to give a speech for an award she was winning. She noticed that the day of the speech...would have been her mother's 100th birthday and decided to write about her mom starting with "I wake up every morning thankful I am not my mother..." She goes on to talk about her mother's life and the reasons she is thankful she is not her mother. Her mother was never allowed to pursue her dream job (because she was a woman) and was pressured into getting married at a young ago. Ruth's mom instead, wanted Ruth to live a better life. I cant wait to read the book...she looked at her mother's old letters and wrote the book in honor of her life.

Ruth and Joe then started talking about her years at Gourmet. Ruth really changed things with the magazine and gave it the name and honor it deserves today. She felt there was more to food/life than a big elegant dinner party to write about. She started writing pieces about farms, chefs and farmers relationship, and food and politic. She said her staff had the appetite to change the magazine and make it what it is today. She said she started writing for her readers...because her readers never failed her. However, with times changing the ads were not selling - which was the main reason the magazine failed. In its last year sales dropped from 1350 to 400.

"I got to live in a time of magazine, that will never come again. During that time...if you give a reader what he wants, it will pay off. It is so sad that those days are over." -Ruth

However, Ruth does have faith that something new and exciting will come to the industry. She gave me hope and inspiration that I am not in a dying industry. She talked about the wonderful things going on in the food industry...and the rise to make change to things like what children are eating.

To end the evening on a happy note, Joe talked with Ruth and her haiku-like tweets. In a recently article by John Kessler in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, John writes about how Ruth may have invented a new genre of food writing. Example of her tweet: "Sun spangled morning. Tiny yellow birds. Peeling tangerines. Fresh warm bread, cold sweet butter, apricot jam." With only 140 characters....what a beautiful way to write about food.

I enjoyed the evening and loved meeting one of my favorite writers and role models in the food industry. Even though Gourmet is no longer being published...for years Ruth gave us stories on more than just a recipe or critic. She filled our minds with knowledge on how food relates to other, race, and politics. She helped me become the curious food writer I am today...and she taught me how to go the extra mile when exploring a food article.