WARRENTON, VA -- The good times will roll June 2-5, 2009, in Cleveland at the Doubletree Hotel, 1111 Lakeside Avenue, when North American Travel Journalists Association (www.natja.org) will host journalists, editors, broadcasters, and travel industry professionals at its annual conference.
Travel writers interested in learning ways to incorporate writing about food into their travel articles will have the opportunity to meet and talk with print, TV and cooking panelists (on Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 10 a.m., Doubletree Hotel) who will provide them with the needed insight to write delicious copy that will capture the attention of jaded travel editors. The four-person panel, headed by Joe David author of Gourmet Getaways (50 top spots to cook and learn in the United States), will tell you how to add a culinary slant to your travel pieces to make them stand out in the marketplace.
Two chefs from David’s book and a local newspaper travel editor will offer their points of view. They are former NBC-TV hostess “Cooking with Class – Just for the Health of it” Sheelah Kaye Stepkin (Torte Knox, Hawley, PA), Chef Nancy Krcek Allen (Chateau Chantal, Traverse City, MI), and Cleveland Plain Dealer Travel Editor Susan Glaser.
Each of the four panelists will bring to the discussion their unique perspective on how to bring food and travel together and, in the process, awaken the readers’ appreciation for another very important aspect of traveling. Attendees aspiring to acquaint themselves with ways to mix food with their travel writing will receive some solid and sensible advice on what makes good stories and how to best develop them from four different perspectives.
Joe David has been writing and traveling the globe in search of the perfect meal for decades. To finance this search, he has taught school; worked in public relations, marketing and magazine advertising; reported five radio stories for NPR's The Best of Our Knowledge; authored countless articles for major newspapers and magazines; and written five books.
Although he isn’t a cook, he has written many articles on food and international cooking schools, which have included an interview with Jacques Pépin and a piece on the Ritz Escoffier Cooking School in Paris (U.S. Airways magazine). His latest book, Gourmet Getaways, (recently published by Globe Pequot Press) brings together over 50 of America’s top cooking school chefs, their programs, cooking styles, and favorite recipes. What makes his writings on food work is that he carefully selects his news source and always aims for the heart of the story. www.gourmetgetaways.us
Sheelah Kaye Stepkin (Torte Knox, Hawley, PA) is a respected chef and former NBC-TV television hostess (“Cooking with Class – Just for the Health of It). A Broadway trained actress, she will bring sparkle to the panel with her culinary experience and suggestions on how to create delicious copy and serve it irresistibly to your readers. Sheelah’s cooking skills came to national attention when she prepared for the White House (Clinton Administration) twelve turn-of-the-century toys all made in sugar dough. They became so popular at the White House that they went from private display to the Larry King Live feature, as one of Hillary’s favorite gifts. In the past years she has appeared in Bon Appétit and NBC National News, Larry King Live, ABC’s Morning Show and much more. Her food, which has been viewed by millions of television fans, has been enjoyed by presidents, movie stars, and politicians. www.torteknox.com
Nancy Krcek Allen heads the cooking school program at Chateau Chantal winery in Traverse City, Michigan. A graduate of San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy, Allen is a certified culinary professional, member of I.A.C.P. and Slow Food. She has the solid background and accomplishments both locally and nationally that have made her a sought-after chef. Among them include working in many restaurants, teaching recreational and professional cooking at the Institute for Culinary Education and the Natural Gourmet Institute in Manhattan, writing ICE’s professional Asian curriculum, and owning and operating her own restaurant, City Kitchen. Allen’s goal as a teacher is to encourage students to liberate themselves from leaning too heavily on recipes; instead she encourages them to rely on their senses. Allen achieves this goal by focusing on techniques and skills. Her food-writing and recipes have appeared in local, regional and national publications like Michigan Blue, Relish, the Traverse City Record-Eagle, Edible Grande Traverse and Vegetarian Times. You can reach Allen at nallenchef@gmail.com.
Susan Glaser is the travel editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. Her articles have been reprinted in Ohio newspapers through a unique cooperative agreement with the Plain Dealer; they have also appeared in such Newhouse newspapers as the Oregonian, Times-Picayune and The Star-Ledger. She has been with the Plain Dealer for the past 10 years, as a writer and as an editor. A native of Cleveland, she has a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from Ohio State University, where she was a Kiplinger Fellow. She lives in suburban Shaker Heights with her husband and two daughters. Her most enjoyable writing assignment was a week in Paris and the Loire Valley, after taking the first nonstop Continental Airlines flight between Cleveland and Paris. To read some of her published articles, visit: http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/susan_glaser/
|