Nothing makes for a more kick ass food essay than incorporating a bomb recipe. However, after looking at a few essays from expert writers, I realized that it takes more than bacon to draw in the reader. Sure, they see the title of the recipe first. But once they start reading the introduction, solely mentioning the greatest food on the planet won’t keep the reader intrigued.
Possibly the most cliché tip a writing teacher can give is “start your essay with a question.” While this method often seems juvenile and cynical, I was drawn in to Ernest Hemingway’s birthday recipe by a series of questions. “Were you expecting a stiff cocktail? Fresh marlin? Braised wildebeest? Ernest Hemingway has become such a legendary character, it’s hard to think of a recipe that could match his macho reputation.” Yes Mr. Author, I was in fact expecting something from your carefully chosen gourmets. So what could the recipe be? After counting these off I didn’t know what the recipe would entail, allowing my easily distracted mind to finish the essay.
I’m sure Manhattan is a really cool city. You see things in magazines and many other forms of media. As ignorant as this may sound, I’m not from Manhattan and I’m not interested anymore after hearing endless stories about the history of someone’s life in Manhattan. “Born and raised in Manhattan, he would run errands with his mother to Washington Market, where farmers unloaded their produce onto the Hudson piers.” How many stories do you think have started out like this? When Mr. Author starts his story out this way, I start playing x-box. I guess this means… create a unique and relatable intro.
Incorporating culture is something I thoroughly enjoy when talking, reading, or writing about food. America is built on not just the generations and generations that have existed in the US, but family’s from around the world as well. Something special that these immigrants bring to American culture is the food they sit down to throughout the day. I guess I’m biased for foreign recipe stories since my ancestors are from Lebanon. Sorry Manhattan natives!
I was going to start this paragraph along with my essay “coming home from grade school to a warm and delicious meal is one of the greatest things ever.” Then I noticed this sentence is similar to sentences in the past. In any case, this meal I came home to, and my personal favorite Lebanese dish was called Mjaddarah. Every friday during Lent we would eat this meal, but also on random days throughout the rest of the year. Out of a number of delicious meals my great Aunt Jane would make for me, Mjaddarah has the greatest background and distilled taste in my mind. I will use this for my family story and recipe project. While it is just a meal, I plan to paint a small picture of my childhood and the Catholic/Lebanese foundations I grew up on. Truly amazing happenings can be told through something as small and simple as food.
Food for the Soul 
I like how you want writers to challenge themselves on writing something creative and new to keep food writing fresh! Most people have similar stories, though the most interesting parts are the things that they don’t have in common with the average person. When one’s writing is more descriptive and personal, it draws in the reader because people are more interested in things they don’t know opposed to what they already know. Hearing different variations of the same story isn’t as interesting as if someone gave it their own personal twist.
This blog was truly amazing. You touched upon the points, made it extremely entertaining. It’s interesting how you started your second paragraph with the cliche’s teachers can give you and how Ernest Hemingway’s essay started and grew on you. Your style of writing was cocky and made it clear what you cared about and what you didn’t.
We have something in common. I too get tired of so many writers and magazines acting as if Manhattan is the center of the universe. Rrrrgh. Yet you’ve overcome this frustration by being able to go beyond the words to examining the structure. It appears as if you’ve gotten new ideas for how to open your own essay and that makes the reading worthwhile.