What We Talked About When We Talked About Food in 1991

November 4, 2017

Going through old files, I came upon this speech I wrote in 1991 when I was the food editor of the Los Angeles Times.  I’m not even sure where I gave the speech – it was obviously at some sort of conference – but from the vantage point of twenty-five years, it’s an interesting artifact.

Seems like such a long time ago. Looking at the paper it’s printed on  – we didn’t use Xerox in those days, but a machine that printed on sprocketed sheets – reminds me that we were still going down to the composing room every day just before the paper went to press. If you had to cut a few lines you took a knife and cut it to fit, then repasted with rubber cement.

In those days the food section of the Los Angeles Times was huge – 2 full sections, often running to sixty or more pages.  It was all about advertising, of course; supermarkets were still printing coupons.  But looking at these numbers – the section brought in $34 million! – is a stark reminder of how much things have changed.

So, as you will see, has the audience.