20th Annual Allied Media Conference

The Immigrant Food Stories Network Gathering will bring new journalistic tools and networking opportunities to journalists and culinary professionals, allowing them to tell important food stories from the perspective of new Americans. Food journalism is an especially effective means to highlight important issues within immigrant communities and to portray immigrants as the fully-dimensional people that they are to audiences that may have lost contact with their own immigrant roots or are hostile to the needs of today’s immigrants. Designed to be immersive and intensive, the Network Gathering will focus on developing story ideas for presentation to a panel of editors from national and local media outlets. We will make special efforts to encourage participation by people who work and live in Detroit. Based on similar workshops Feet in 2 Worlds has organized in New York City, the curriculum focuses on ethical issues in food journalism and reporting on immigrants and immigrant communities, and a multimedia approach to telling stories about critical issues in food in immigrant communities such as child nutrition and education, labor and employment, anti-hunger efforts, sustainability, climate change, and federal, state and/or local food policies, as well as stories about immigrant culture and culinary traditions.

Coordinators of this network gathering are Stephanie Rodriguez, Adela Nieves, Martina Guzman, and John Rudolph .