Carl Dawson
Carl Dawson covers food for the Post and Courier with a focus on how local purveyors feed community occasions and everyday life. His reporting connects dishes and vendors to the events, places and industries that define his coverage area, drawing on years of work reporting on local government, development and major employers. He writes in a straightforward, service-oriented style that makes it easy for readers to see who is cooking, what they offer and how that fits into the broader local landscape.
Aiken barbecue purveyors
Dawson’s food coverage centers on local businesses, with a particular emphasis on barbecue and the people who cook it. In his feature on Aiken barbecue purveyors ready to feed July 4 gatherings, he spotlights local operators preparing to supply holiday meals and party spreads, framing them as go-to options for readers planning celebrations.
The story treats barbecue as both a product and a community service, showing how these vendors step in at moments when residents need to feed a crowd without doing the work themselves. His approach in this kind of piece blends clear descriptions of what is on offer with a practical angle: who can help, and when, for an upcoming occasion.
Tribute Parkway hotels and development
Before shifting into food coverage, Dawson reported on local development and infrastructure, covering projects such as the opening of a hotel on Tribute Parkway alongside continuing road construction on the same corridor. In that work, he pairs business openings with updates on construction progress, giving readers a combined view of new amenities and the practical realities of getting around them. The Tribute Parkway coverage shows his habit of anchoring stories in specific places and projects, explaining what is new, what is still in progress and how those changes affect daily routines.
That background in development reporting informs his food writing, which similarly treats restaurants and purveyors as part of a changing built environment rather than as isolated businesses.
City of Aiken and Savannah River Site
Dawson has covered the City of Aiken and the Savannah River Site, reporting on civic issues and one of the region’s most significant industrial employers.
That beat involves tracking decisions in city government and developments at a major federal nuclear complex, work that demands accuracy, clarity and attention to public impact. Experience explaining complex, long-running issues such as municipal projects and Savannah River Site operations gives him a foundation for contextualizing food stories within broader economic and community trends.
When he writes about local purveyors or hospitality businesses, he brings an understanding of how they sit alongside city planning, industrial employment and infrastructure decisions that shape where and how people eat.
4 more food journalists.
Aaron Guerrero
Aaron Guerrero is head of the digital department at Miami’s Community Newspapers, where he pairs restaurant coverage with community-facing content. He focuses on how Miami-area restaurants evolve, celebrate, and experiment through new concepts, menus, and neighborhood-focused dining experiences. He reports on restaurant openings, such as an Italian food hall at Plaza Coral Gables, new executive lunch menus, and wood-fired Latin steakhouse brunches, explaining what sets each venue apart. He also covers awards, like a Wine Spectator honor for an Italian chophouse, and events that turn dining rooms into social hubs. His bylines extend to features on sports-themed gatherings, civic renamings, local visits to restaurant programs, sponsored community pieces, and official notices. His work is straightforward and descriptive, helping readers and local businesses connect around specific openings, promotions, and dining experiences.
Aarron Fleming
Aarron Fleming reports on how courts, jails and public safety systems work over time. He is a reporter at The Daily Memphian covering public safety, the local court system, suburban news and business developments in North Mississippi. His work follows trials, sentencing, appeals, plea deals and judicial decisions, including major cases tied to Tyre Nichols and rapper Young Dolph. He also covers jail conditions, inmate deaths, crime data, prosecution units, trafficking, shootings and public-order incidents. His suburban reporting examines cannabis businesses, restaurant openings and how commercial growth affects communities such as Olive Branch. Fleming previously covered education in the same newsroom. He uses clear, unadorned prose to explain legal steps, deadlines, institutional problems and the political, commercial and community effects of public-safety decisions.
Alana Al-Hatlani
Alana Al-Hatlani is a food writer and editor who treats recipes, restaurants, and food features as ways to explore culture, community, and the business of eating. She works on the food team at Southern Living, overseeing and contributing to print recipes and reported features. Her pastry-focused, restaurant-tested perspective comes from time in restaurant and bakery kitchens. She helps plan and write monthly food packages, including “The South’s Most Treasured Desserts,” and wrote “8 Summer Recipes Our Editors Make Every Year.” She also writes recipe tips, ingredient explainers, restaurant guides, and reported stories about workers, owners, and communities. Her subjects include regional specialties, dining scenes, kitchen basics, and food industries. Her work has appeared with OpenTable and Yahoo. She reports on the ground, explains techniques clearly, and connects specific dishes and places to larger stories about food and livelihood.
Alana Edgin
Alana Edgin is a business reporter whose strongest focus is food, restaurants and consumer-facing businesses. She works at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and has also had work syndicated across AOL and Yahoo News. She covers new openings, closings, expansions and franchise growth, along with retail, health, services, corporate news, data incidents, business support programs and sponsorships. Her reporting includes detailed roundups of new restaurants and businesses, coverage of El Pollo Loco’s opening, and stories on burger trucks, dessert shops, Vietnamese sandwich restaurants and gourmet markets. She also contributes to food and drink reviews, including fall coffee and jerky comparisons. Edgin reports with practical “what, when, where” details, structured comparisons and clear explanations of how offers, partnerships and business changes affect consumers and the local economy.