Dear Ruth

Last week we foreshadowed a conversation that has been on our minds for the past year or more: The Value of Work. Since then, we've been working hard to collect a lot of information on the subject - personal anecdotes, employers' input, department of labor regulations, and the like. We have a little more homework to do before we share our thoughts, and we look forward to finally shedding some light on this very important issue next Tuesday.

If you have any related feedback - your opinions on internships, valuable unpaid experiences that you've had, instances in which you've been exploited, companies that have done an exemplary job taking a stance - let us know. We are always eager to hear a unique perspective.

In the meantime, our Words of Wisdom entry for the week (psst! it's over there in the left sidebar) says, Do one thing every day that scares you. We practice what we preach, and today we have a story to share on the subject:

Those of you with eagle eyes might have noticed that we mentioned our plans to attend the Cherry Bombe Jubilee event in NYC this past Sunday. We willingly admit that a primary motivation was to get in the same room as Ruth Reichl. Imagine Taylor's surprise when she entered the lunch line, and the person that joined the queue behind her was - you guessed it - Ruth.

Good Food Jobs was founded on our ability to connect with people, and somehow, in the very moment Taylor needed to exercise these skills most, every ability to construct a coherent sentence completely escaped her. And then, even worse than silence, out came babbling. Oh dear.

Ms. Reichl stood there graciously, trying to make pleasant conversation, but we can imagine she was relieved when a friend came over and nabbed her attention.

We're not ones to perpetuate celebrity obsession. On the contrary, we wish we had aptly conveyed exactly what Ruth's work means to us. So we're claiming a do-over right here and now. If this miraculously makes it to Ms. Reichl's desk, all the better.

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Dear Ruth,

I had the pleasure of meeting you at the Cherry Bombe Jubilee this past Sunday. I was standing directly in front of you on the lunch line, wearing a bright yellow top. I handed you a Good Food Jobs note card, and struck up a conversation about the Hudson Valley.

But I've been waiting a long time to meet you. (Full disclosure, I met you once at a book signing at the 92nd Street Y, just after the release of your then-titled book Not Becoming My Mother, but I was just as awkward in expressing my adoration). I'm not one to be in awe of famous people for the sake of them being well known, and I can't think of anyone else on Earth who conjures up this stammering effect.

But with you it's different.

Your voice was the first one that I really heard when I was formulating my views on food and the world. In high school I would pore over the pages of Gourmet Magazine, where you had recently assumed the post of editor-in-chief. That led me to your books, and articles, and recipes, and all manner of correspondence - whether spoken or written word.

You were the first person to introduce me to the idea of food culture. I've since found many sources of inspiration all over - from published writers, leaders of organizations, food educators, friends, farmers, and countless individuals that spend their lives improving our food system. And I find equal inspiration from those that have had media attention and exposure and those that would ordinarily go unrecognized.

But I credit you with being the first person that made me feel like this field was worthy of study. You were the first proof I had that I could turn my somewhat alternative interest in food into a 'real job'. You were the first person that made me feel like there was somebody else out there that understood that my interest in food was rooted much deeper than culinary and restaurants - that cooking is what connects us.

We started Good Food Jobs to provide to others that very same feeling that you have long provided to us. At it's most basic, it's the feeling that we are not alone.

To date we've helped to bring together 48,922 people that share our passion. And, job by job (12,800 and counting), we are helping them turn their personal interest in food into professional pursuits. Restaurant jobs have always been accessible, but we hope to make it a little bit easier for everyone who has an interest in the greater field of food culture to find the kinds of opportunities, both in and out of the kitchen, that they think they can only dream about.

In short: thank you. We know you are just one person, and you were likely only ever doing and writing what felt right. But we appreciate your work. It means so much to us, and we feel that it helped make our contributions possible.

Cheers,
Taylor

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We hope that the next time we have a chance to meet Ms. Reichl we won't be quite so tongue-tied.

We're curious to know: Who's your Ruth? Who helped shape the way that you view food? Maybe today is the day to do something that scares you, and reach out to them.

As it turns out, we were starstruck by a few other folks on Sunday as well, including several Good Food Jobs users. We so enjoyed having some faces and personalities and stories to match the email addresses that often seem distant and isolated in our database.

There are so many incredible, real people out there - like Becca, who said she scours the site daily (we really enjoyed seeing your work at The Table at Brandywine). And Liz, who enthusiastically exclaimed that we changed her life because she found a job at Sweets & Bitters that led her to great coworkers with whom she now has a new project going. And Erica, who moved out to San Francisco and within days of being there learned about Good Food Jobs, applied for a job that she saw on the site with Eleanor Bertino Public Relations, and landed the gig. It's so inspiring to see even a small snapshot of the ripple effect of all of these interactions. There is such great momentum in this community. So: thank YOU, too.

Cheers
Taylor & Dorothy