Joe Yonan of The Washington Post discussing “coming out” — as a vegetarian.

When you get a bunch of food writers, cookbook editors, chefs and other foodies together for a couple of days, the subject matter is going to be very diverse. The opinions are going to be strong. And there’s going to be pressure to have great food to sustain the effort.

All this was the case when the Southern Food Writing Conference convened in Knoxville earlier this month for its third year. In addition to the important speech from John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, which was reported here yesterday (click here), these are some of the other interesting sights, bites and insights I came across.

Have you ever pondered the differences between Garden & Gun magazine and Southern Living, both bastions of Southern cooking and culture? Jessica Mischner, the senior editor of Garden & Gun, and Hunter Lewis, executive editor of Southern Living, both attended the conference. Edge got the two on a stage together at one point for a very enlightening discussion.

“These are the two reigning mirrors of our region,” Edge said to the editors. “Both your magazines started as shelter magazines, but today you are such big voices — you are a megaphone for our region.” Edge proceeded to draw from the two editors a discussion about what differentiates the two magazines. Here’s the bottom line. Continue reading →