Vicki Ravlich-Horan and Tash McGill are cooking up a brand new project to showcase New Zealand food writing. Vicki gives us the inside scoop.
In March this year, with the Autumn edition of Nourish out, I thought I would take a breather and perhaps start thinking about how we would celebrate our 10th birthday in September. A few weeks later that breather was enforced on us all. Not one who does well without a plan or a project (or two) on the go, lockdown was going to be a challenge.
I was just starting to get into the swing of doing not much but bake bread and go for long walks when the news of Bauer bowing out of New Zealand broke.
My phone and email began to run hot as readers and clients alike wanted to know if Nourish was going to survive, what could they do to help? This was very humbling, but it also got me thinking, did the big guys know something I didn’t? Should I be worried?
If this year has taught us anything, it is we don’t know what the future holds; but the more I Iooked into things the more I felt confident that Nourish had forged a different path and we were in good shape. There is no denying that the over the past decade or more, the media landscape has shifted dramatically – and this is most evident in print!
I’m a big believer that every challenge offers opportunities, and during a Food Writers Zoom drinks talking about the current challenges many were facing, a seed was planted. Further conversations with Tash McGill and the seed began to grow. Was there a way we could encourage more great New Zealand food stories to be written? How could we promote the pool of talented food writers?
The answer we have come up with is The Feed, an online platform that aims to share the diverse topic of food in New Zealand. The Feed aims to be a collaborative platform for those hungry to learn more about New Zealand’s growers, producers, chefs and industry leaders.
The Feed is for those craving stories that celebrate our wonderful land and the food we grow, make and eat.
By creating The Feed, we hope to provide the key ingredients to have more New Zealand food stories written. By providing a platform and audience we hope to encourage more writers to tell the New Zealand food story.
Built into the platform and our ethos, is shining a light on food writers’ work. Share a story in The Feed and we will give you a decent by-line, link this to more of your work and details on how people can contact or contract you.
We are looking at creative ways to fund The Feed so we can commission more and more stories – this may include selling the features to other publications. But don’t worry, any money we make from such deals will be shared with the writer.
Want to know more? Want to write for us? Want to be profiled on The Feed? Know a great Kiwi company who’d be keen to get behind The Feed? Email vicki@thefeed.co.nz or tash@thefeed.co.nz.
