Ep. 107 - The Southern- Style Storyteller with Stephanie Burt, Writer and Podcaster at the Southern Fork

I stumbled upon Stephanie’s podcast and discovered that her episode count was the same as mine. Curious, I checked out her site and her clean, bright, and crisp platform contrasted my dark, grimy and unartistic website.

I sent her a quick email and got a response back, and here we are today.

Stephanie is located in Charleston South Carolina and travels all over the southern United States to eat food and interview a diverse array of guests that invoke a southern flare.

There are some differences between our podcasts. Stephanie does her podcast face to face. I barely do. Her podcast has no structure, mine as too much structure. Her podcast is about the fury of southern cooking, mine is about the calmness of a food lab.

But the passion is still there. Stephanie and I talk about communicating via podcasting and writing, especially what the difference is between the two mediums. As a writer, we also discuss how to describe food, and we give some salivating examples in this episode.

Overall, I had a blast with this episode. As you’ll see, it’s full of laughter and radiates with southern hospitality.

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Question Summary

What do you do for a living?: I'm a Podcaster and writer Southern Fork: a podcast where I interview people in the south (culinary, expats, etc), I focus on the cultures and stories and profiles as chefs. I don’t review restaurants. I go to restaurants and make opinions on restaurants. I also write and the writing and the podcast work well together. Notable people: Merherwan Irani, Steve McHugh Podcasting versus writing: Do you pick out stuff from your podcast to put into your writing?: No, the interview allows me to get inspired and learn more about the chef. For example, I found out chef Steve McHugh had Leukemia from a couple minutes of interviewing with him and was able to get inspired by an article. Describe the Steps it took to get to where you are today: I’ve always been a writer and gravitated more towards food. When I was hired as a writer, I couldn’t get all the information I wanted. When I went freelance, I used the skills I was good at to create podcasts and long-form interviews Advice on freelancing: Reputation is the number one thing When I first started, I talked to my friends. My first 10 episodes were from my friends. I got better as I talked to my friends. As I got +90 episodes, I could go to a restaurant and ask “who reps them?” I can call the representatives and ask for the chef and I start to snowball based off of my guests Tips on making guests comfortable: Every podcast I listened to, I hope I speak less. I can only do two a day (I do these live). I don’t really know the nuance of the story. Everyone is different but we are used to our questioning as being a defensive mechanism. We’ve created an environment where we sincerely want to know why. The chef and culinary realm have a lot of profanity. My show is the one time we don’t need to clean it up. What is the most valuable thing you learned about podcasting: Podcasting is a new skill that made me stretch my comfort zone.  Advice on writing: don’t use drool-worthy or nom nom. The point of writing is to translate one sense to another sense. For example, translating taste to writing. Most of the time, relate to an experience or memory. Or describe the moment and environment and you can match it with the dish. FONA Flavor Course – Ancient Grain

You can put connotation on descriptions. For example, icy can mean gritty like a slushy

Umami – Sweet, Sour, Salty, Satisfaction

Why does your food job rock?: I am so interested in the life of a chef Why do people like what they do base off of your interview on Southern Fork?: The need for approval. But also the compulsion of passion. The chef’s life is like being in an opera, golfing and a battle all at once. The best kitchens are completely silent. This is why there are more open kitchens.  What don’t you like about the front of the house in restaurants?: I want to feel comfortable when I eat. Service is super important. I don’t need bad service when plenty of restaurants have good service. Food trends: Done with Pork belly? A shift in service. The shift in service where the chef is giving you the dishes. It feels like you’re in somebody’s house. It heightens the experience I like off-menu item trends. For example, like a burger or soft serve ice cream or a surprise menu I like cured eggs shaved on salads, on top of fish dishes I like red wine: Mediterranean, Greek, Turkish. Wines that are getting on the list that are interesting and fun I like local/trash fish: Lion Fish, Tile Fish, Wahoo, Wreck Fish Tomorrow: Uni from Maine Adam’s pet peeve: eggs on top of things. Instagram,: #putaneggonit Also: deep fried pig ears. Charleston: Pig Ear Lettuce wrap What is something you’d like to know more about: Cheese! I give myself a task every year to learn to do something Who inspired you to get into food writing?: Charlotte Observer: Kathleen Pruvis. And John T Edge, director of the Southern Food Ways Alliance. Restaurants were part of the civil rights movement. David Wondrich (Esquire and Daily Beast) he looks at cocktails. Wayne Curtis in Rum Favorite Quote: Food people are the best people. If you can’t use butter, use cream. Julia Child Favorite Writing Technical Book: Will Write for Food (book and blog) that makes you understand the different types of writing mediums. Read the kind of articles you enjoy and want to contribute. (Eater versus Bon Appetit). Do chefs write recipes?: They write methods and batch things, but won’t translate it for single serving individuals  If you go pro, you have to go weight and scales What’s the best meal you’ve eaten recently?: One of my best friends moved to a new restaurant. He never was the head honcho. I ate his menu and I enjoyed him spreading his wings and I enjoyed it so much. Edmond’s Host (oust).  Food is really about pleasure memories What kind of advice would you give a freelancer in food media?: Save a lot of money. DON’T DO IT. In my world, it was inevitable. The writing world is very volatile and everything is cause and effect. If I didn’t have work, I would have to work in Food and beverage. Whenever a chef explains a dish, I wanted to ask so much more.

You should read food articles for the structure to improve your writing. An average consumer will just absorb the news, you should absorb the structure.

Where can we find you?: thesouthernfork.com. I’m on facebook, I’ve given up on twitter. Instagram @thesouthernfork

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