Pam Kragen
Pam Kragen is a culture and food journalist at The San Diego Union-Tribune, where she combines coverage of the local dining scene with deep reporting on theater and the arts. Her work is distinguished by a critic’s eye for creative work and a consistent focus on the people and institutions shaping the region’s cultural life, rather than treating food and entertainment as simple lifestyle topics. Alongside her food beat, she occupies a senior role in the arts and entertainment section and is a central voice in the area’s theater community.
Food coverage focused on local businesses and national recognition
On the food beat, Kragen’s reporting highlights individual establishments and how they fit into broader trends and rankings, such as her coverage of An’s Gelato being named one of the top ice cream shops in America by USA Today. She uses these stories to connect national attention with the local culinary landscape, showing how small businesses participate in and benefit from wider industry recognition. Her public bio underscores her interest in food, chocolate, coffee, and travel, reflecting an engagement with dining as an experience rather than just a commodity.
This perspective gives her food coverage a narrative layer that goes beyond straightforward listings or announcements.
Theater reviews and performing arts reporting
Kragen is a longtime theater critic whose work ranges from reviews of individual productions to feature profiles of artists and creative teams.
In her review of the Diversionary Theatre comedy “Latina,” she offers a clear critical judgment on where the production falls short, illustrating a willingness to evaluate work candidly rather than simply promote it. Her feature on theater creator David Israel Reynoso, “In Life and Art, Multitalented Theater Creator David Israel Reynoso Opens New Doors,” shows the other side of her arts reporting, spending time on an artist’s career, influences, and the thematic ambitions of his work.
Across these pieces, she treats theater as a serious art form, combining plot and production details with thoughtful attention to craft and context.
Her theater coverage often situates individual shows within the ecosystem of regional companies and venues, helping readers understand how a particular production fits into the larger trajectory of local performing arts. This blend of review and reporting makes her essential for stories that involve new works, premieres, or artists whose careers bridge multiple theaters or disciplines.
Visual arts, galleries, and creative legacies
Beyond the stage, Kragen writes about visual arts and gallery exhibitions, bringing the same emphasis on individual artists and long-term creative practice. Her coverage of a James Hubbell exhibition at Santa Ysabel Art Gallery, for example, focuses on the artist’s body of work and the significance of the show, linking a specific display to Hubbell’s broader legacy in the region. She has also reported on figures from the comics and cartooning world, including coverage referenced by commentator R.C.
Harvey about cartoonist Evans, demonstrating a willingness to explore different corners of the creative field.
These stories tend to frame exhibitions and retrospectives as part of a continuing narrative of regional art, explaining why a given show matters now and how it connects to decades of prior work. For communications around gallery openings, museum programs, or projects that draw on local artistic history, her interest in creative legacies and archives is a key distinguishing trait.
Role in the regional arts community
Kragen’s influence extends beyond individual articles into the broader theater and arts community. She is a member of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle and co-founded its Craig Noel Awards, which recognize excellence in local theater. In addition to her reporting and criticism, she holds a senior arts and entertainment editorial role at The San Diego Union-Tribune, giving her a central position in shaping how the masthead covers culture across disciplines. This dual role as editor and critic means she engages with the arts both as a curator of coverage and as a writer, making her especially attuned to developments that signal artistic growth or institutional change.
Her social bio highlights Disney, theater, food, chocolate, coffee, and travel as longstanding interests, mirroring the blend of topics she works on professionally. Taken together, her editorial responsibilities, award leadership, and day-to-day reporting position her as a key connector between artists, venues, and audiences. For stories that intersect food with performance, visual art, or broader cultural trends, Kragen’s track record shows she is drawn to pieces that offer both strong human stories and clear significance for the region’s creative community.
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.