How to find your food writing voice

Many food authors and journalists begin their food writing careers by starting a blog or sharing culinary reviews and photographs on social media. Discover how Le Cordon Bleu can help you find your food writing voice with our specialised workshops or Le Cordon Bleu Online Food Writing course.

Whatever your journey to becoming a food writer looks like, you need to develop a distinctive food writing voice that captivates and compels your audience. In this article, we discuss what food writing ethos and pathos are, and how they can help you develop your own voice.

What is a food writing voice?

We use our voices to speak every day. However, this is often forgotten when putting pen to paper, as we become more constricted by grammatical rules and preconceived ideas of how food articles should be written. The unique tone and style with which you speak, if written down, is often more compelling than off-the-shelf food writing cliches.

The challenge comes when writing commercially.

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"Food writing is a commercial venture, so you really are beholden to the publication you are writing for and need to tell a story that fits with their editorial voice.This can be difficult to accept as a writer! But the more credibility you get as you gain experience, the more freedom you have to find your own voice and experiment with longer-form pieces that allow for more creativity. - Justin Bergman, programme coordinator, Le Cordon Bleu Online Food Writing course

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Use pathos and ethos in food writing

By understanding (and using) pathos and ethos you can develop your food writing voice.

• Using ethos in your work establishes authority and credibility with the audience. This means using respectable terminology, defining new concepts or corroborating your statements with other sources.
• Pathos is about emotional connection - invoking strong mental images and personal responses from your audience.

Balancing pathos and ethos is the mark of a successful food journalist. After all, eating is largely an emotional experience and many food publications are read for enjoyment, so it's important to balance the credibility of ethos, against the approachability of pathos.

Published food journalists must also understand how to adjust their use of these tools to match the editorial voice of different publications.