I want to eat that
A little bit about me (Kel) and what I plan to write about
You are probably here because you’re curious. I’m curious too. It can be a blessing and a curse. It makes me good at writing and bad at concentrating.
I’m curious about a lot of things but for the past decade or so my curiosity has been focused on food and how it’s never just food, it’s always so much more than that. I’m obsessed with food. And if you are too, you might like my writing.
I want to tell you stories about things I have eaten (or drunk) in a way that makes you think, ‘I want to eat that’. Everyone I know already comes to me for recommendations. I often find myself in places that only opened a few hours earlier and get excited to tell people about them. But I also love to find places that are new to me but have been quietly doing their thing for years and write about those too.
This newsletter will be updated at least weekly. Every week I promise to tell you about one wonderful, exciting or intriguing thing I have eaten or drunk. Usually in Greater Manchester but sometimes elsewhere. It will be a written extension of my TikTok with more detail and love woven into it. Here, people have attention spans.
I will occasionally do some deeper dives into the stories behind the wonderful things I have found to eat. I’ll talk to the people behind the food. I’ll aim to centre their voices. I’ll tell you their stories.
Who’s writing?
Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Kel. I’m a professional food and drink writer from Manchester, UK.
I’ve been a telephone tarot card reader, a bouncer, and an English teacher (amongst other things). I’ve even shovelled dog poo for a living. I spent my twenties and some of my thirties slacking off the rat race as much as possible to tour with my punk band. I slept on floors all over the world, living off beans on toast and warm Carling (the perennial rider beer - a currency that only exists in the music biz). I’m still making music but that warm Carling don’t pay the rent, man, so eventually, I found my way into professional writing. There’s a really interesting story of how I snuck into this career, accelerated to a top job very quickly, then quit. I’ll tell you about that in another post. I write for a few different places nowadays, including VICE.
But the smelly pillow of imposter syndrome has hovered over the face of my writing career for years. Forcing me to underestimate the power of my prose and undervalue my own voice. Shackling me to offices and platforms I had no stake in. Asking me to compromise on so many levels. I’m sure you know how that feels. Pretty much every job is like that. Having my own SubStack newsletter will allow me to write freely without having to consider commercial relationships or other people’s visions. And there is so much I want to write about.
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I’m new to this, let’s see where it takes us.
This newsletter is a food baby. Who knows what it will be like when it grows up? Hopefully, it won’t turn out to be a right dickhead. It will certainly evolve with time though, as many of my own favourite SubStacks have. I’ve worked in and around the world of hype, marketing and PR bluster and I really want to cut through that and only write about what I love here. And (THIS IS IMPORTANT) I will always pay for the food and drink I write about. I will never ask for a freebie in return for a write-up. I want to support the hospitality industry, not be the crow picking at its carrion.
NB - because of the jobs I have done and the network I have built as a food critic and creator, I sometimes get invited to restaurant and bar launches or given free food and drink. I politely turn down a lot of these invites (who even has the time?) but I do go to some, and I will sometimes post about these on my social channels. But this newsletter will be a sacred place. I will only write about things I have paid for.
At the moment, I only expect you to subscribe if you want to read my work and maybe give me a little ego boost. I am currently building this thing up so I don’t really expect a lot of paid subscribers for now. If I did get enough payers, it would free me up to be completely independent as a writer and to write and explore even more. That’s my ultimate goal.
If you subscribe to my newsletter, paid or otherwise, you will be helping to keep the smelly pillow of imposter syndrome at bay. You will make me feel loved and appreciated, and I will be forever in your debt.
I hope you enjoy my writing. I’m excited to get this thing moving. Let’s eat!