Meredith Howard
Meredith Howard uses service journalism to help readers decide where and what to eat, turning rankings, openings and everyday questions into clear, local guides for the Belleville News-Democrat.
Service journalism with a food focus
Howard is a service journalist for the Belleville News-Democrat, with a remit to answer practical questions for readers and connect them with useful local information. Her food coverage sits squarely in that mission: she reports on which restaurants and shops are worth a visit, what they cost, and how broader trends or rankings matter to people deciding where to eat.
Her work often combines straightforward reporting on a news hook - such as a statewide list or a new opening - with concrete takeaways like specific venues, price points and hours.
Beyond food, she also produces explainer pieces on everyday topics, such as a video and story detailing who has the right-of-way at four-way stop signs, showing the same practical, step-by-step approach she brings to dining coverage. That broader service role shapes her tone on the food beat: the stories aim less to critique and more to answer the question “where should I go, and what should I know before I do?”
Best-of lists and local angles on statewide rankings
A recurring strand of Howard’s food reporting is translating statewide or national “best” lists into specific guidance for her readership. When Food Network named deep-dish pizza as Illinois’s most iconic food, she reported on the designation and pointed readers to places they could actually order it in the metro-east, turning a broad ranking into a set of nearby options. In another story, she covered a Yelp-based list of the 10 most popular restaurants in Illinois for the month, highlighting the “mom and pop” kitchen that topped the ranking and explaining what sets it apart.
She uses the same approach with dessert coverage, such as a feature on a family-run ice cream shop named the best in Illinois, paired with recommendations for metro-east favorites from the newsroom. Across these pieces, the pattern is consistent: she takes a statewide or platform-driven list, identifies the venues that matter to her audience, and supplies enough detail - from type of food to local context - for readers to act on the information.
Budget-conscious dining guides
Affordability is another through-line in Howard’s food work, showing up in guides explicitly framed around price. In a story on where to find a meal for $10 or less around southwest Illinois, she assembled a set of restaurants and dishes that fit that threshold, offering options for readers who want to eat out without overspending. The piece focuses on concrete details like menu items and price caps rather than general lifestyle advice, aligning with her service journalism role.
This attention to cost complements her coverage of “most popular” or “best” lists, ensuring that the dining options she surfaces include both headline-grabbing destinations and everyday spots accessible on a budget. For communications teams, it means she is drawn to stories with a clear value proposition for local diners, whether that’s standout quality, strong community roots or notably low prices.
Tracking new restaurants and evolving food scenes
Howard also contributes to coverage of openings and shifts in the local food scene, documenting how new concepts and venues are changing where people can eat and gather. In a feature on Mac’s on Main, Heaterz and other developments, she and colleagues reported on a long-vacant building turned into a restaurant and music space, a Nashville hot chicken concept joining a food hall, a boutique market opening, and food offerings tied to a returning county fair. The story includes specifics such as addresses, hours, planned live music and brunch service, and the mix of food trucks and vendors at the fair, making it a practical guide to what is new and how to experience it.
That kind of coverage shows Howard’s interest in the broader ecosystem around food - not just individual dishes or rankings, but how restaurants, markets, halls and events create new destinations and routines for local residents. Her reporting on new venues uses the same service frame as her guides, giving readers the logistical information they need alongside a snapshot of the concept or atmosphere.
Work across a broader network
Howard’s service journalism role extends across the McClatchy network, where she is listed as a journalist and has bylines in other member publications in addition to the Belleville News-Democrat. These cross-published profiles and stories reinforce her specialization in practical, reader-focused coverage, including food and drink topics.
Taken together, her work forms a consistent portfolio: accessible explainers, ranking-based roundups and opening news that help people navigate daily life, with food as a primary but not exclusive focus.
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.