Pitches wanted (food and policy) (worldwide) | $1,000 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: VITTLES 

After the exploration of Food and the Arts in Season 6, we are turning our attention to a topic that, at first glance, might be considered its opposite: Food and Policy. This can often be a dry and daunting aspect of food writing, but we think it is crucial, since policy is – if we look around – everywhere. We want to take the approach that we took in Season 6 and think about policy expansively, looking at all the ways that it manifests in our lives – from the most intimate settings to large-scale ecological and geopolitical impacts, the hidden motivations behind policy-making and unintended outcomes.

Why policy rather than politics? Because ‘food is political’ has become an empty slogan. When people say ‘food is political’ they rarely add what those politics really are or talk about what policies and systemic transformations they think would help to ensure a fairer and more equitable food system. And yet every aspect of our eating lives is shaped by policy. The preservation of cuisines, new leaps forward in processing and our day-to-day eating habits can all be transformed by policies which are mostly unknown or impenetrable to us. While how we eat is still a matter of preference, income, heritage, pleasure and urban planning, it is also shaped by those who write those policies and hold the power to dictate how we live and eat.

• Who decided what textures should be on biscuits, crisps and cereal?
• Why does the flavour of a milk-based ice cream change over time?
• How does the corporate control of fruits and vegetables change their presence in the world?
• How do we come to associate some foods with childhood, sustenance and survival?
• Why are things like rice and wheat considered ‘staples’ and who decided they are?

Between the three of us, we have lots of different thoughts on what ‘policy’ looks like, but we share the thought that by focusing on policy, it’s possible to reflect in concrete terms on the politics of food.

One way of approaching this season would be to look at a banal policy and extrapolate it, Butterfly Effect style, into an essay on how this seemingly insignificant law affects our everyday existence. These don’t need to be conclusive ‘policies’, but can be some kind of arcane legislative guideline that hinges on a percentage point. Many food policies are there to regulate new and emerging industries (think delivery, food AI, artificial meat), police authenticity (food definitions, PDOs, authentication) or ensure health (sugar taxes, hygiene ratings).

Policy can also be about land, marine ecosystems and the other places that food travels to and from before it reaches the plate. These laws, which are often hierarchical, can mean the systems that shift and affect ownership of land and produce, which often changes the shapes and form in which we consume food. Wartime rations, trade, corporate control and how food is affected by geopolitical changes are all seldom discussed in the main current of food writing but this is crucial to do, and it can be done in interesting ways. ‘Policy’ can also be something that is not in the remit of states and governments, and is an overarching social code, like in the case of South Asia’s patriarchal policing, class and, most crucially, the senseless, but ever-present ownership of caste.

We are very much interested in the political philosophies that lie behind food policies, e.g. the sugar tax and the kinds of society it intends to create. And, in that context, how ‘policy’ as a solution can be a dead-end for more ambitious political imaginations that seem intended to prevent people from thinking about the bigger picture. We are interested in hearing about utopian – or, perhaps, completely realistic – changes to policy (e.g. subsidies, land use, food production) that could improve people’s lives, but also how it might be part of a larger shift towards a different society.

Policy, for us, doesn’t mean we want to solely publish impersonal or academic essays (although, if you are an academic and want to write something more populist, here’s your chance!). We would love a mix of politics, everyday life and, well, policy, both related to contemporary times and history. Policies related to housing and how people cook in consequence to them, like cooking in communal spaces, squats, or housing types that do not allow cooking. How received understandings of what ‘normal’ foods look and taste like are derived from policies and lobbying at national and international levels, e.g. how EU laws on seed sales mean that some varieties go extinct. We want to read funny or moving or strange, everyday stories related to policy; memories and oral histories of different approaches being lived out in small ways.

Although the theme of the season is Food and Policy, this doesn’t necessarily mean the policy must be about food, nor does the essay need to concentrate on policy itself – rather this can be the route into the article. Neither does it have to be a written essay – we published both video and audio last season and would like to continue doing so! Whichever medium you work in, we would like these pieces not to simply unpack policies or give summaries and contextual explanations, but to think about how they intersect with life and food, and be precise in the policies that are chosen and the stories they tell. One recent article we enjoyed that uses that ploy is this Eater piece on what goes into bone broth, which ends up covering the most baroque food policy imaginable and goes down many delightful, recursive, ontological rabbit holes. We don’t want pieces that are dense and weighed down by data and explanations, but when required, we do want articles to use evidence from reliable sources to support claims. The tones of the essays for the season can be serious, funny, angry and moving, and we encourage writers to work in their own style. Our only request is from Sharanya, who would prefer to not read pitches about economic liberalisation in urban India. And a gentle reminder: we generally do not accept pitches about American issues.

Please send your pitches to vittlespitches@gmail.com. We may take some time to get back to you, but we answer every pitch and try to give feedback and advice where we can.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The base rate for a Monday newsletter, which is normally between 2,000-2,500 words, will now be £800. This comes out to around 40p a word, a long term goal of ours, as it means Vittles is competitive with most legacy publications with many times the budget, all without advertising or outside funding. This does not mean that we will rest on our laurels. The writers we work with put in a huge amount of labour into every article and we will keep trying to increase the rate so it is commensurate with this. In a time when online media is imploding, and when so many writing jobs are poorly paid, we think it’s vital to be able to both pay fairly and be financially sustainable, so if you have enjoyed Vittles in the last year then please do consider taking out a subscription to fund more of the same.

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: vittlespitches@gmail.com
• Website: https://vittles.substack.com

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Vittles is a food newsletter for novel times. It publishes food writing and culture writing from across the world, platforming writers, illustrators and chefs, particularly those not given space within the traditional food media. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent articles/stories on its website.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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