Should food editors eat meat?

by Ed

Food writers and editors eat everything right? Well almost anything and I must admit I recently baulked at spiders.

So what do you think about the rumour that the new editor – I believe Veronica may be her name – of the Epicure food supplement of The Age newspaper is a vegetarian?

Can anybody confirm that this true? Feel free to use a pseudonym.

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Ramya January 31, 2007 at 1:15 am: Preferably Vegetarian is a best choice.But non vegetarian can also be good editors too.But editors are supposed
to be enjoying to read articles than eating the food.
another outspoken female January 31, 2007 at 7:43 am: How wonderful, I hope she is!
Ed January 31, 2007 at 9:00 am: Ramya, I must admit each year I eat less meat and I coming around to your way of thinking.
Gill, we shall see.
The Old Foodie. January 31, 2007 at 9:00 am: If she is, her initial credibility would suffer with me, I think. Its a bit like being a sports editor but refusing to attend any sport that uses a bat, isnt it?
Ed January 31, 2007 at 1:49 pm: Funny you should say that, I was sports editor at university but don’t play any team sports!
Brett January 31, 2007 at 4:00 pm: Yeah but eating isn’t a spectator sport..
Cindy January 31, 2007 at 6:18 pm: It can be! Why else would I be reading food blogs all day?

Besides, I’m vego and I still appreciate reading about other people’s meat cooking and eating experiences. I don’t see why a vegetarian editor couldn’t appreciate good food writing on any subject.
Ed January 31, 2007 at 6:35 pm: Brett, I guess it depends on who’s eating. they are some people who have some very strange habits. One day i should video them on my camera phone (light permitting) and upload to youtube.
Cindy, i think i may have some special meat pictures or you then – from Cambodia.
The Old Foodie. February 2, 2007 at 7:19 am: Ed, you might not have actually played any team sports yourself (no-one can play every single sport, no matter how keen they are), but I bet you knew about them and understood them and were interested in them and reported them. I guess Cindy is right though – the editors job is to judge the writing, not the actual food.
Ed February 2, 2007 at 1:20 pm: This might come as a suprise but I know very little about sport but knew the right person in the right pub. I rarely watch sport on TV, have never been to a soccer match, only twice to the rugby, tennis three times and the AFL four times. I still don”t understand about scoring properly and was eventually dumped.
Catfud February 16, 2007 at 11:53 am: Veronica was, and probably still is, a vegetarian, and the deputy editor is a coeliac. But maybe that’s a good thing for readers? Veronica is the EDITOR, not a reviewer, remember. The job entails commissioning and editing writers, not swanning about at restaurants.
Yelena February 23, 2007 at 3:44 am: For me, this question isn’t about vegetarians v. carnivores. In addition to editing stories, don’t editors write “editorials”? How is an editor going to give her opinion on anything outside her realm? She’s going to be regurgitating other people’s opinions whenever she’s asked to comment on something involving meat / fish. What if there were an editor that only ate Mexican foods… and refused to eat any other cuisine? Would you be okay with this person editorializing food? I completely agree with Old Foodie’s sports-coverage analogy. Yes, I think food editors should eat meat, fish, vegetables, fruits… you name it, I think they should try it. If a food editor’s not open to experiencing all foods… some credibility will be lost.
Ed February 23, 2007 at 6:45 am: Catfud, all good points although I think Yelena’s points are better. Inevitably having vegetarians, vegans, celiacs and whatever on the team help increase exposure on these issues. But as a mainstream publication the greater part of the audience is mainstream and eat meat, quite possibly every day. As for me I’m asll of the above. I believe yesterday I ate meat, today I may avoid wheat and tommorow i shall eat only fruit, nuts and vegetables.