Editor’s Note: Jenny Agnew is an enthusiast of books, food & drink, yoga, and dogs. As an assistant professor of English at St. Louis University’s School for Professional Studies, she teaches literature and writing courses, sometimes about food and culture.
The following article, originally published in Agnew’s blog, struck a chord with us, so we asked if we could republish it. Look for more posts from Agnew in the coming weeks and months, including one later today, on St. Louis’ “ideal” bartender.
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I edit graffiti in public restrooms. I can’t help myself: it comes with the territory. The bathroom editing occurs only in my head; I have not applied pen to stall walls—not yet. This confession serves as a kind of disclaimer for the following post. Perhaps it doesn’t matter that so many restaurateurs’ and chef-owners’ blogs, websites, and even menus contain writing errors in style, grammar, and mechanics. “Grammar police,” some will cry. Guilty. Getting back to the territory mentioned above: I’ve been teaching English (writing and literature) for over 18 years now, and one of the most difficult ideas to impress upon students, regardless of their majors, is that good writing matters. And it’s no wonder they resist: I can spend 20 minutes covering apostrophes and possessive constructions, only to pass the “mens” bathroom on the way back to my office. Worse, still, I might be reviewing a colleague’s syllabus as part of my administrative work and find errors I just corrected in a Writing 101 student’s essay. Everyone makes mistakes, including me, of course, which is why having an editor or second pair of eyes is necessary, particularly if you release your work to the larger public.
“Low-order” concerns, grammar and mechanics should be the last element of writing on which to focus. Ideas, style, organization—“high order”—always take priority; once they’re sound, a writer should then polish the end product by proofing and editing. The creative process remains the same for many, regardless of that end product. A writer prioritizes in the same way a chef might: perhaps the plating is the grammar/mechanics to the dish’s overall composition or content; it’s not the most important part but is necessary to the dish’s presentation since it’s one of the first elements a diner will notice. Style might be the most ineffable part of any creative endeavor—we usually know we like something, whether it’s a story or a painting or a dessert, but cannot always articulate why. It’s no coincidence that so many chefs have attended art school, for example, as these endeavors often overlap. In writing, style involves voice, word choice (diction), word order (syntax), and how the writer regards the audience and material (tone). Perhaps the last part explains why this matter is important: to finally get a reservation at one of the hottest restaurants in St. Louis only to see “brussel sprouts” on the menu makes me feel the tiniest bit duped.
When I see a blog post by an acclaimed chef or peruse the website or menu of a popular restaurant, I expect the overall presentation of words to be on par with the food. Consider how much attention to detail goes into a single dish at one of St. Louis’ finest restaurants; works of art, many might say, and rightly so. Take the whole restaurant— the menu, the staff, the décor—that results from hours of planning, training, and modifying. That same attention to detail should go into the blog, site, or menu because, just like the food, it represents the restaurant or chef. For many, the website might be the first glimpse into the experience. Why not start out on a high note even before the patron walks through the door?
Just as I don’t publicly announce whose writing needs work in the classroom, I’m not going to out any St. Louis chef-owners or restaurants here. I can, though, recommend one example of good writing: Kirk Warner’s site, Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen. By “good,” I mean writing that engages interest, evokes senses, and remains free of those niggling “low-order” errors that can distract the reader from content.
I’m an amateur cook, at best, and would benefit greatly from a professional’s instruction in the kitchen. Moreover, I understand that most in the restaurant industry don’t hold MFA’s in creative writing like Gabrielle Hamilton. Here’s a solution, then, and an open offer to St. Louis chefs and restaurateurs: You cook, I’ll edit for food.
