20 Famous Food Journalists To Follow

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20 Famous Food Journalists To Follow

Social media has taken over our lives. It touches on every basic aspect of our lives. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube are useful tools when it comes to the culinary industry. Other avenues like blogs and podcasts are also useful tools that help us keep informed on the food industry. Food journalists have made it easier for food lovers to know about new dishes and the hottest spots to dine in. Dream job alert! All food commenters do is eat scrumptious meals and give us their take —and on top of that they get paid!

Many of these journalists have made their names and are recognized all over the world. they play a vital role in the food industry. They not only influence consumers but also chefs. They give us the information we need to decide what our next supper will be and where we shall get it. For restaurants and chefs, pushing your brand out there is vital. Thus pitching to the correct food journalist will guarantee good coverage.

Also, read on 20 Famous Travel Journalists In The World

1. Katie Lee

Katie Lee Joel. Image by James Yuanxin Li – Wikimedia

Katie Lee is a proficient chef, TV personality, author, and journalist. She studied journalism and food science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She started out working at various restaurants and thereafter created her food website, Olive and Peach. From there, things only went up for her. She started making appearances on TV on different cook shows. Presently she is a co-host of The Kitchen on the Food Network. On social media, she covers a lot of cooking. She has one of the biggest followings on social media. On top of this, she authored several cookbooks with amazing recipes.

2. Tim Carman

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Tim has been a food reporter for more than a decade for The Washington Post. He covers national food issues and has been nominated three times for the James Beard Award. In 2011 he won an award for his food-related columns in The Washington Post. He talks about food trends and recently the emergence of plant-based burgers in fast food and its possible effects on food providers. He uses Twitter to talk about all his food interests.

3. Allison Aubrey

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She works as a reporter for National Public Radio (NPR) News. Her stories are featured on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Her work as a contributor to the Public Broadcasting Service’s NewsHour saw her bag the 2016 James Beard Award for Best TV Segment for her series of stories investigating food waste and the link between pesticides and bee populations. Lately, she has covered stories of the unification of state attorneys general suing the current administration for incapacitating federal nutrition standards for school meals and the real danger of the suggested unhealthy diets.

4. Frank Bruni

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He has been on the front line of food journalists at the New York Times for over two decades. He made his name as a restaurant critic and was named the best restaurant critic for the New York Times in 2004. At the renowned media outlet, he touched on all kinds of topics. He is much respected in the game and it is public knowledge that his review can make or break a business. Apart from working at the New York Times, he has authored three bestselling books ranging from his love of food to personal eating disorders.

5. Serena Maria Daniels

She is a celebrated food journalist, founder, and editor of the “chingona-in-chief” of Tostada Magazine. It is a magazine that talks about stories about food and is written by colored people and immigrants. It rides on the fact that food journalism can bring communities together and uphold culture. Her involvement has influenced the media’s mindset on food journalism. She has been named in Forbes, NPR, and Thrillist.  Presently she concentrates on Detroit restaurants and trends.

6. Samuel Fromartz

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Sam is a legendary food reporter. He touches on all types of food topics including environmental impact and the growing of crops. He co-founded the Food Environment Reporting Net (FERN) in 2011. The organization has won over a dozen journalism awards including three James Beard Foundation Awards for food politics writing. He started his career as a reporter for Reuters. He has also written for Fortune, Business Week, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation. In the recent past, he has covered stories on the U.S. beef packing merger and U.S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s (D-ME) plan to support farmers against climate change.

Read more on 20 Outstanding Environmental Journalists in the World

7. Heather Haddon

Heather works as the food and restaurant reporter for The Wall Street Journal. She writes about food retail and policies. She concentrates on the commercial side of food and groceries. Her topics range from supermarket trends to food co-operations leadership and profitability. In the past, she mainly covered food retail in Chicago and New Jersey’s politics and local affairs. Presently, she concentrates on major restaurant news, supermarket and consumer trends, and the effects of online grocery.

8. Ruth Oniang’o

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Ruth Oniang’o is from Kenya. She is the founder of Rural Outreach Africa. An organization that deals with food development in Kenya.  She is also the editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Development, a journal that covers topics on food, farming, nutrition, and development. The journal also publishes research and investigation reports from food experts. These publications aim at advocating for poor and abandoned smallholder farmers in Africa. Her work aims to empower farmers, minimize food waste, and adopting of healthy food practices.

9. Jonathan Kauffman

He is one of the foremost respected food writers within the industry, and his work has shown up in a few of the driving titles; The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and Eating Well Magazine. He covers various topics in the food industry including worldwide cuisines, food transformation, and agriculture. He has written several books and has received several awards from the James Whiskers Establishment, Affiliation of Nourishment News coverage, and the Universal Affiliation of Culinary Experts. Recently he has written on plant-based burgers and farmers affected by wildfires.

10. Tom Philpott

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He is a correspondent for Mother Jones magazine. His angle is on the food system; politics, history, and the science behind it. He has a blog, Food for Thought, and hosts a podcast, Bite, alongside Mother Jones editors Kiera Butler and Maddie Oatman. He began in the restaurant industry as a busboy but progressed to journalism. He also contributes to the New York Times and is an award-winning bestseller. Lately, he has put his focus on eating while being environmentally conscious and improving ways of taking care of farmland.

11. Helena Bottemiller Evich

She is a senior food and agriculture reporter for POLITICO Pro. Her area of coverage is the political food system from White House turkey pardoning to North Carolina pig farms. For her work, she bagged a 2018 James Beard Award for Food and Health Reporting. She concentrates on food policies like regulation and import/ export issues are involved. She is acquainted with all the latest developments and supply chains both nationally and globally. She is one intelligent reporter and makes her audience easily understand all the technical terms policies come with.

Lately, she has written on the effects of Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb standing down and the FDA’s coming prohibitions on sodium in food.

12. Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern, Chris Cosentino, and the Off the Grid Crew at the Bizarre Foods Taping at Off the Grid: McCoppin Hub. Image by Gary Stevens – Wikimedia

He is one of the most respected chefs and food critics globally. He has been in several t.v shows, including the Zimmern List and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. His experience is vast and has reviewed some of the most cringy dishes out there. One of the most unique dishes he has commented on is spoiled shark meat and deep-fried tarantulas.

13. Vanessa Wong

​The who is who in the food industry follows her. She covers vital improvements in the US food industry and gives reviews on various food topics ranging from beverages to retail, and restaurants. If you need to stay current on new foods and practices then hit that follow!

14. Gloria Dickie

She is a freelancer that has put her effort into sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conversation, and environmental law and policy. She has covered stories on community forestry projects in the Yucatan jungle and climate change protests in Paris. In 2017, she was the recipient of the inaugural Food Sustainability Media Award for her work as a writer-in-residence in the Banff Centre’s Environmental Reportage program and a National Tropical Botanical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow in Hawaii.

15. Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière

Once a lawyer but now a successful chef, Alexandre shows us that passion and success go together. They do say that choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life! The food industry has been good to him. He amassed a lot of success and came up with many unique recipes. The new food fame resulted to be the first food critic. He is best known for his practices of cooking and eating good food.

16. Vince Dixon

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Out of all these journalists on this list, Dixon uses a different approach to his reporting. He writes and uses code, libraries, and visual storytelling tools like photos to narrate his food stories and the industry as a whole. His narrations range from viral foods to practices used by restaurant chains. In 2016, Dixon’s “Thrill Ride” used images and videos to show the life of New York City’s food-delivery cyclists.

17. Todd Runestad

He is the editor-in-chief of Functional Ingredients magazine. His job requires him to keep abreast of current food trends and improvements and particularly in science nutrition. On his Twitter handle, he tweets many links associated with his company, New Hope Natural Media. Here it is easy to connote that he is conversant and keeps up with the world of ingredients.

18. Duane Stanford

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If you want to be well-informed on all matters in the food business then this Bloomberg reporter is the one to follow. From all the big sharks in the industry, current food trends, and all that affects them, he covers them all. He may not be very active on Twitter as some of these other journalists but he is intelligent and always on target.

19. Uzmi Athar

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Uzmi Athar is a reporter for the Press Trust of India covering social issues like displacement, foeticide, and child marriage. As a member of the foreign desk, Athar also contributes to global reporting on subjects including the U.S. presidential election, the Brexit referendum, and The Paris Agreement. As part of Athar’s recent works, the journalist covers food-related topics ranging from India’s growing food waste crisis, farmer welfare, and international uses of Indian flavors.

Read more on 10 of the Most Famous Indian Journalists

20. Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson. Image by Brian Minkoff- London Pixels –Wikimedia

She is a food enthusiast, television personality and journalist, and bestselling author. She is a proud amateur chef and a very good one. In her professional life, Nigella Lawson started as a journalist and food critic, before later becoming deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times, at just 26 years of age. She owns a cookware range, Living Kitchen that has been valued at £7 million. To date, she has sold more than 3 million cookery books worldwide.  As a presenter, she is known for her allure for both male and female viewers. The Guardian wrote, “Men love her because they want to be with her. Women love her because they want to be her.” She has been accused of presenting in a flirtatious way and even labeled “the queen of porn”. However, she points out that her method is more intimate than flirting.