Craig Claiborne, Elizabeth Hawkins and Jane Nickerson
I have been looking at the history of food journalism, focusing on the real role that the NYT writer Craig Claiborne played. He has been given more credit than he truly deserves. He was hired by Elizabeth Penrose Hawkins. In her obit above, it is noted that one of her proudest moments was hiring Claiborne – putting a man in charge of what had been traditionally a women’s position. (He took over for Jane Nickerson – who clearly took a news approach to food.)
Yet, for all his influence – he did not, at least initially, see food as news. In his memoir, this is how he describes his job interview with the Times.
Editor Turner Catledge: “If you joined the Times would you consider the food column as a service column or a news column?”
Claiborne: “A service column. There’s very little news of food that is all that interesting. Recipes, are.”
Catledge: “I don’t agree with you.”
Claiborne did develop a news style but Nickerson was truly the one who laid the groundwork.
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