"Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es." [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are].
I couldn't agree more with French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin because for me, food has always played an integral part of my life. From fat kid to food writer, whether I'm cooking in the kitchen, researching restaurants, or meeting small farmers, what and how to eat is always on my mind. After taking over family holiday meals, I interned at a local catering company in high school. At the University of Pennsylvania, the Food Network motivated me at the gym--and makes me cringe at the phrase "EVOO."
I fell in love with truffles, gelato, and lardo during a summer study abroad program in Florance, Italy. Back in KY, I transformed the piece into the Lexington Herald-Leader's quarterly travel section's cover piece; I then realized I could merge my love of writing with my passion for food.
Sophomore year, I studied abroad in Paris to explore its gastronomic landscape, and ostensibly practice French. During a return trip to former Medici haunts, I saw my article posted on the door of the Oil Shoppe, my favorite Florentine lunch spot. Much to my father's chagrin, any lingering thoughts of law school flew out the window and the journalist in me was born.
Back at Penn, a friend and I co-founded Rabbit and Rind, a wine and cheese club named after the iconic wine opener and cheese's inedible crust. During the next two summers, I worked at the U.S. Embassy in Paris researching and writing a book on the biographies of the 20th Century U.S. Ambassadors to France. After spending the days delving into musty archives, I would hunt for the best chocolate almond croissant in the city and follow a certain mushroom tapenade vendor as he moved from neighborhood market to neighborhood market. Trying at least half of France's five hundred types of cheese is nearly equal in significance to finishing the book.
At NYU's Journalism School, I chose food as my beat, and living in, arguably, the best city for food, I've learned a tremendous amount about the food industry, chefs and restaurants. I find the differences between what people say they eat, what they want to eat, and what they actually eat even more fascinating. Internships at both Saveur and Gourmet served as invaluable experiences at respected food magazines, and I started contributing regularly to the Huffington Post and freelancing for food magazines like Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn.
While I have always enjoyed shopping and finding the best boutique in whatever town I visit, I had never considered writing about fashion until I had the opportunity to work at Vogue. I learned a great deal, and love writing about it--and food, travel, and art--for Vogue.com and Voguepdia. (To the obvious question, no, it's not like The Devil Wears Prada.) I hope you enjoy my work!
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