Taylor Tobin
Taylor Tobin distinguishes herself through practical, technique-focused food journalism that translates professional chef knowledge into accessible home cooking advice, with particular expertise in Southern culinary traditions and food safety protocols.
Home Cooking Technique Specialization
Tobin consistently explores specific kitchen tools and methods that improve home cooking outcomes, interviewing multiple chefs about their preferred approaches to fundamental techniques. Her reporting on egg scrambling methods documented how professional chefs use unconventional tools like handheld milk frothers and chopsticks to achieve optimal texture, providing readers with precise, actionable guidance rather than generic instructions. She examines the science behind cooking processes, such as explaining why proper whisking technique prevents over-aeration while ensuring thorough yolk and white integration.
Modern Southern Food Traditions
Tobin approaches Southern culinary heritage with both respect for tradition and practical adaptation for contemporary home cooks. Her coverage of Texas Caviar demonstrates how she navigates regional variations, acknowledging there's "not one recipe" while providing workable frameworks that honor the dish's cultural significance. She regularly consults Southern chefs for authentic recommendations on regional specialties like sausage varieties for biscuits and gravy, connecting readers with expert voices from the communities that developed these traditions.
Her writing preserves the cultural context of Southern dishes while making them accessible to home cooks outside the region.
Food Safety and Practical Guidance
Tobin addresses often-overlooked food safety concerns with evidence-based reporting that translates expert knowledge into practical home kitchen applications. Her investigation into hot sauce storage identified specific mistakes that compromise product quality and safety, going beyond basic "refrigerate after opening" advice to explain the science behind proper storage. She provides clear indicators for determining when common dishes like pasta salad have spoiled, focusing on sensory cues home cooks can reliably identify.
Her approach to food safety emphasizes prevention through proper technique rather than fear-based messaging.
Affordable Regional Products
Tobin highlights accessible regional food products that deliver quality without premium pricing, particularly focusing on Southern supermarket specialties. Her review of H-E-B's Carolina Reaper Cheese Puffs demonstrated how she evaluates value-oriented products with the same rigor applied to gourmet items, noting specific flavor profiles and texture qualities that make under-$4 snacks worth purchasing. She identifies regional grocery items that embody Southern culinary traditions while remaining practical for everyday home cooking budgets.
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.