Zoe Blair
Zoe Blair is a multimedia journalist at WVTM 13 who covers food, restaurants and the people and pressures that shape the dining scene. Her work treats food as an entry point to stories about work, faith, family, heritage and economic stability rather than just dishes and openings. She brings experience covering labor and community issues into a food-focused beat, connecting restaurant profiles with reporting on closures, policy shocks and local support networks.
BAMA BITES and chef-driven stories
Blair is a central face of WVTM 13’s “BAMA BITES” franchise, using short feature segments to spotlight Alabama chefs and restaurants in detail. In her piece on Roll Cajun Boudin, she profiles an Air Force veteran who channels generations of Cajun tradition into po’boys, beignets, boudin and crawfish bisque, framing the menu around service and community rather than only flavor. A recurring pattern in these segments is her focus on origin stories and personal values, as seen in coverage of an Alabama chef whose rise to national attention is driven by faith, family and food.
Blair often ties local restaurants to national recognition, such as her features on a Michelin-rated French bistro described as a “love letter to Paris” and the James Beard nominations associated with its chef and other Birmingham hospitality figures.
She also highlights legacy and identity, as in her report from ZoZo’s Kitchen, where she traces the Cassimus family’s Greek heritage and the way the restaurant honors the founders of a well-known fast-casual brand through authentic dishes and a return to a meaningful location. Across these stories, she blends visual detail, chef interviews and a strong sense of place to show how individual dining rooms, menus and family histories fit into the broader culinary reputation of Alabama cities.
Restaurant closures and industry strain
Blair’s food reporting extends beyond celebratory profiles to the financial and legal pressures facing restaurant operators.
In her coverage of former Pihakis Group restaurants, she documents abrupt closures in Homewood, noting shuttered doors, temporary signs, and a rebranding effort that splits one restaurant from the troubled parent company. That piece quantifies the impact across the Birmingham area, citing a dozen restaurant closures and more than 150 employees suddenly searching for work, with attention to how local organizations step in to assist displaced staff.
Earlier reporting on financial troubles and closures in Birmingham-area restaurants shows her following the same story arc at an earlier stage, tracking the challenges facing a popular restaurant group and the uncertainty for its businesses and workers. Blair also covers the other end of the spectrum, reporting when a Birmingham restaurant lands on a national “Best Restaurants in America” list and speaking with its owners about what that recognition means for their operation. Taken together, her work presents a picture of a restaurant economy under strain but still producing standout destinations, and she consistently centers employees, owners and regulars as the ones who absorb the consequences of both failure and acclaim.
Food access and community response
Blair regularly tracks how policy decisions and funding changes ripple through food assistance networks and low-income households. In coverage of Alabama leaders concerned about SNAP penalties, she reports on food bank representatives from across the state who warn that funding crackdowns could reduce supplies for people in need.
Her reporting emphasizes the scale of the potential shortfall and the anxiety among those tasked with keeping shelves stocked, bringing a systems-level issue down to concrete worries about meals and hunger. In a related story on Community Kitchens in Birmingham, she documents how a suspension of SNAP benefits leads to new faces at local meal programs and then follows the response as a Walker County restaurant steps in to help feed affected residents. That segment aligns with her broader tendency to seek out the restaurants, chefs and volunteers who move quickly to fill gaps left by policy changes or economic shocks.
In this part of her beat, food is both the problem and the solution: Blair reports on the loss of purchasing power and donated supplies, and then on the creative ways local businesses and organizations reconfigure their operations to keep people eating.
Community and labor reporting beyond the table
Blair joined WVTM 13 in 2024 as a multimedia journalist, bringing prior experience serving the Tuscaloosa community in the same capacity. Before taking on her current role, she covered the nationally recognized UAW vote at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, giving her firsthand exposure to organized labor, industrial employment and the stakes of high-profile workplace decisions. She also reported on the destruction of the historic Linton Barbershop, a story that combined business, heritage and neighborhood identity in ways that echo her later restaurant and legacy coverage.
At WVTM 13, she continues to report beyond the restaurant sector when community jobs and economic security are at risk, as in her story on Michelin’s decision to wind down operations at the BFGoodrich plant in Tuscaloosa. That piece sits alongside her food and restaurant work, underscoring a consistent thread: Blair is drawn to stories where livelihoods, local institutions and cultural landmarks intersect, whether the setting is a plant floor, a dining room or a longtime barbershop.
As a multimedia journalist, she appears both in produced feature packages like BAMA BITES and in studio and live segments on food needs and restaurant industry developments, maintaining a presence across the station’s broadcast and digital coverage.
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.