I’ve finally got a prototype for the new Food Community page I’ve been planning to launch for months–yay! This is where you’ll find the cookbook reviews we’ve been talking about, plus other regular and rotating features. Those of you who expressed an interest in reviewing cookbooks might be hearing from me soon. I don’t have a definite publish date for the new page, but I’m hoping for October.
I know you’ve all seen community pages in the other sections of the paper. What our new page will have in common is that the copy will be submitted by readers–”citizen journalists” is the catch-phrase. Here are a few of the features that will run every week:
Cookbook reviews, which will be written (following a template) by community reviewers. We’ll pick new reviewers each year.
Lost and Found: I saw this one in another paper and loved it. Can’t find a product you need? Drop me a line and we’ll post the “lost” items. Then other readers will let me know if they know where you can find it, and we’ll print it. Food items, of course. Let me know what you’re looking for.
Mini-profiles: Each week we’ll feature a chef or home cook in a “10-questions” kind of format. We’ll have a form available online or in the office for folks to complete, and we’ll make it fun. Start nominating folks!
Tip of the week: A cooking tip, a helpful Web site–something that I hope will be new to you. I promise we won’t print the same tired old junk.
Rotating features will include pictures and short stories about cooking groups, kids in the kitchen, original recipes, plus other things we’ll come up with. It’s a work in progress–and it’s YOUR page, so share your ideas here. If you’d rather, you can email me directly at biggs@commercialappeal.com.
This will be fun!
Responses to “Send your ideas for the new food page”
September 20th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I sure would love to see a wine column back in the newspaper. I read the Nashville newspaper because they have a wine writer and he is pretty good. We used to have a good one too…when Fredric would do his picks of the week, I used to see people going into wine stores with articles asking for new wines. It was good to see people reading about a good wine and then going out to by it. Then when we got a new editor, the wine column was gone. Maybe we need a new editor!
September 20th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I had an idea last week…when you’re doing restaurant reviews, how about revisiting some of Memphis’s long established eateries? You could review places like Huey’s, Folks Folly, A-Tan, Ronnie Grisanti’s, Frank Grisanti’s…there are so many good places that we take for granted. Why not remind your readers about the things they love about the favorite haunts? And what’s new with them?
September 20th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I like both Bill’s and Marsha’s ideas for the page. I’m really excitied about the page itself. I’m sure it’ll start out great and then evolve as new ideas come along. Thanks, Jennifer, for the idea and the initiative.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Can’t wait for the debut of the food page. I predict it will be an instant success & all kinds of innovative things will result from it as it catches on. I like Marsha’s idea of revisiting old & established Memphis restaurants - maybe when they are celebrating an anniversary, milestone, new/seasonal menu, or expanding in some way. New chef profiles are always good. I liked Leslie Kelly’s idea of allowing people who contribute to the blog to go into the kitchens of restaurants (with permission) for drinks & appetizers, a behind-the-scenes view of the establishment, & a “quiz the chef” session. The only one that came about before Leslie left for Seattle, altho we submitted nominations for future outings, was Chef Jose at Encore. The people who attended raved about the experience & were eager for more. It also benefits the restaurant because some of the participants stay for dinner. I’m sure brainstorming will result in lots of suggestions & concepts to enhance the page. Foodies are some of the most creative folks around!
September 20th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
One thing that has frustrated me since a couple CA site redesigns ago is how you have to go to one section - entertainment - for restaurant reviews and another - lifestyle - for recipes, a la carte (or whatever it’s called now) and other food-related articles. Having a single page where all of these items are accessible would be FANTASTIC! Seems like using a content management system would make this fairly simple…
September 21st, 2007 at 8:00 am
How about a Roadfood-esque column featuring soul food, barbecue, and ethnic eateries (e.g. Morris’ Grocery, Fu Lin, Mayo’s Hot Wings, Braden Station, etc.)?
September 21st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
you know what id lke more than anything?
consistency!!
food section on pages xx thru yy…each week!!
i am tired of flipping thru pages to find the section in the playbook!!
got it?
September 25th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
I know I’m late to the discussion but - All of these ideas are great! And what about a gadget review? and ethnic store reviews? AND I’d love to hop on the cookbook review as a person with a serious cookbook addition problem. (approximately 900 cookbooks) I’ve spent a lot of time curled up with one or three or more and then spread them out all over the kitchen counter with post-its to flag the pages.
9 comment.