J-School hosts foodie-for-thought Frank Bruni for a panel discussion

Journalism seemed like a tasty career option on Thursday night as the Journalism School played host to three notable foodies and Columbia alums.

Acclaimed former New York Times Food Critic Frank Bruni, CJ ’88, participated in a panel at the J-School’s Lecture Hall alongside “Top Chef Masters” Host Kelly Choi, CJ ’99, and restaurant entrepreneur Keith Goggin, CJ ’91. The three alums discussed traditional food journalism in the age of Chowhound and other food blogs, local food activist Michael Pollan’s new definition of “you are what you eat,” and George W. Bush’s semi-affectionate nickname for Bruni—“Panchito.” Before the panel began, Bruni signed copies of his recently published autobiography “Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater.”

The panel started off by asking participants about the role of the blogosphere and new media in traditional food journalism. “I think it [new media journalism] has been a positive development, it puts more information out there,” said Bruni. Goggin qualified Bruni’s statement from a restaurant owner’s perspective, saying, “New media players are very important to restaurants. One of my first restaurant investments was a small Mexican bar on St. Marks Place, and this was at a time when City Search was really up-and-coming. For some reason we were ranked high on Citysearch, and we started getting people coming from all over the city.”

There is, however, a dark side to such publicity. As Bruni said, “There are definitely bloggers that, having staked a claim in what a restaurant’s chances are, work hard to prove themselves right. This can creep into new journalism where traditional journalism is more conscious of avoiding it.“

“There are people who take great pride in attempting to shut a restaurant down. And they can do it,” Goggin said, partially blaming the closure of his restaurant Sheradin Square on harsh coverage in the blogosphere.

Bruni added, “I get concerned with people equating user content with more traditional journalism—when you’re reading Chowhound, you don’t know who you’re reading or what you’re reading. You don’t know if you’re reading a review by the relative of the owner of a restaurant.”

A wariness of shrinking job opportunities in the journalism industry seemed to hang over the audience at the discussion of new media forms. While Bruni and Choi have both become successful journalists through institutional channels, the importance of the blogosphere and viral journalism will heavily affect their audience’s career options.

Bruni addressed this concern, saying “The bigger problem [with the blogosphere] is how it becomes sustainable and how you monetize it. If we have blog-based journalism, then journalism will become the profession of people who can support themselves in some other way.” This may have been a scary sentiment to the audience of J-School students nervous about playing the new media field come graduation.

Modern food culture in America was also put under scrutiny by the panel. “We’re in the Michael Pollan moment right now,” Bruni claimed. “For a certain demographic—but not everyone—eating has become an extremely political and ethical thing. There is a heightened consciousness of the effects of what you eat.”

These words resonated with the substantial food sustainability activist community at Columbia, but foodie Bruni brought up a frequently overlooked ethical issue in the industry. “I think the next wave of food journalism will be concerned with the conditions of people harvesting the food. There are so many exploited laborers in the food industry," said Bruni.

Bruni also implied that the ideas of Michael Pollan have negatively affected low-income Americans. “As Michael Pollan’s ideas are being considered as policy, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of people in this country that make a lot less money than you or I or Michael Pollan,” he said.

Goggin rebutted, “I’m skeptical that the government will be able to tax us into a different culinary era.”

The three Columbia alums also reminisced about their days at J-School and the stark contrast to their current lives as high-class foodies. Goggins said, “When I was at school here, I knew every place around that I could get a satisfying meal for under $4 bucks,” and Choi blurted out “Koronet!”

Bruni summed up the sentiment of the panel’s discussion on modern eating culture by citing a familiar trope. “We were all raised with ‘you are what you eat’ with a biochemical connotation. Now that’s true in a totally different way. You are what you eat as a locavore, pasteurized or penned meat. We have become wealthy enough to think about food in all these different ways,” said Bruni. “Eating has become an act of self-definition.”

And for the nervous journalism students in the audience, a big helping of self-definition will surely be in order.