Writer’s Kitchen: The Food Writer’s Moment of Truth

Being a food writer is a scary thing–exhilarating, fun, and delicious, to be sure, but also anxiety-inducing. Especially when it involves sharing a recipe. Once that recipe is published, there’s no going back. I experienced a bit of those nerves a few months ago when submitting my recipe for Fennel-Scented Salmon atop a Lentil and Spinach Salad to Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine. It was a sidebar for my article called “Craving conspiracy: Ten ways to work with your cravings—instead of against them—to give your baby the best start,” and it was my first recipe to be published in a national magazine. However, part of the job of being a food writer is testing recipes, so my family ate well as I tweaked the proportions until the flavors were just right. After months of waiting, the article and recipe are now in print in this month’s issue, and my husband and I got the pleasure of cooking from my own recipe, right there on the glossy pages, a few days ago. I’m so familiar with it by now that I can make it without following the recipe to a T, but that was my moment of truth. Guess what? It’s delicious. Phew.