Olivia Peluso
Food as Cultural History
Peluso documents how contemporary food trends repurpose traditional culinary heritage, analyzing viral cakes as "repackaged panaderia staples" that connect immigrant foodways to modern consumer phenomena. She investigates how food spaces function as community centers, particularly highlighting San Francisco's forgotten queer enclaves where establishments "were really community centers that just happened to serve alcohol". Her reporting treats restaurants and cafes as cultural repositories where identity and history converge.Urban Development Through Culinary Lenses
She examines food scenes as barometers of neighborhood transformation, exploring how culinary landscapes shift amid San Francisco's rapid development in "Memories of overdevelopment". Peluso connects food access to urban policy, noting how sanctuary city status impacts community gathering spaces including restaurants and cafes. Her photography captures how physical food spaces like "Pop's on 24th" become neighborhood anchors where "more than 1,200 people... want to see, feel, and smell those things".Viral Food Phenomena and Community
Peluso tracks how food trends create communal experiences, documenting events like the "Cake Picnic™" that sold out in seconds with a 6,268-person waitlist. She reports on how food gatherings foster connection in fragmented urban environments, covering free cake picnics at Fort Mason that offer alternatives to commercialized food experiences. Her coverage reveals how viral food moments generate both community and exclusivity in contemporary urban life.Preserving Culinary Heritage
She documents efforts to maintain food traditions amid rapid cultural change, highlighting how cookbooks retain "shelf life" despite digital trends. Peluso covers initiatives like "San Francisco is Dead," which showcases art, music, and food events to counter narratives of urban decline. Her work on "Brewster Kahle's Memory Palace" connects digital archiving to physical community spaces where food plays a central role in cultural preservation.4 more food journalists.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What's On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose food and leisure coverage is built around immersive, first-person reporting and concrete detail. He works at the Manchester Evening News, focusing on new restaurant and bar openings, regular food reviews, gig and event coverage, and issues affecting LGBTQ+ people. He treats restaurants, pubs, bars and experiences as stories about place, people and community, explaining what makes a venue different and how it fits into the local dining scene. His pieces cover pricing, service, atmosphere, crowds and concept, and he is willing to be critical when gimmicks undermine the experience. He writes character-led pub profiles, works shifts, joins treasure hunts and attends major cultural events, inviting readers to follow what he does and use his straightforward assessments to decide where to eat, drink and spend time.
Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd
Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd is editor at Secret Manchester, where she treats food as part of how people live in the city, not as an isolated subject. She covers restaurants, bars, street food and casual dining, linking new openings and food trends to neighbourhood change, local businesses and everyday routines. Her pieces focus on accessible spots, comfort dishes like pizza and tacos, and clear details of menus, presentation, atmosphere and practical information such as opening hours and booking. She often combines food, drink and live events, producing guides to venues for major sports tournaments and themed pop-ups as part of wider things to do. Alice also reports on hospitality business pressures, city-centre public spaces, charity initiatives, transport and infrastructure, always showing how food and drink fit into community and lifestyle stories. She previously wrote for other regional “Secret” sites as a staff writer and describes herself as a writer and food fanatic.
Aly Walansky
Aly Walansky specializes in service-driven food coverage that treats cocktails and dining as tools for celebration, focusing on how logistics, ordering options, and menu choices turn everyday meals and major holidays into shared experiences. She is a longtime food and travel journalist now writing for Forbes, where her beat centers on cocktails and occasion-driven dining. Her work includes practical, expert-driven roundups such as guides to many variations on the classic martini, shipped-meals gift lists for Mother’s Day, and accessible formats for Thanksgiving and other holidays. She reports through structured lists, restaurant features, and menu-focused profiles that highlight signature dishes and dining trends. Across outlets, she extends this approach to home cooking, grocery shopping, and recipes, and runs a newsletter that shares her current assignments and industry commentary.
Ben Hurst
Ben Hurst joins food, entertainment and cost-of-living angles, treating cooking, groceries and celebrity stories as everyday decisions for readers. He is Head of Lifestyle and Money at WalesOnline, shaping practical, trending coverage that is tightly written, headline-led and easy to scan and share. His food reporting leans on TV chefs and supermarket behaviour, turning their advice and product changes into clear tips and consumer explainers focused on value for money and household budgets. He also writes extensively about TV and celebrity figures, using recognisable names to carry stories about health, family challenges, cancer treatment and resilience. Alongside these, he produces visual, nostalgia-driven galleries and concise explainers on wide-interest phenomena, drawing on a senior newsroom background that includes executive editor, video lead and news editor roles.