The Food Section delivers the food news and insights you deserve.
Our mission at The Food Section is to serve eaters across the American South by providing them with the information and analysis they need to enhance their food and drink experiences. You can count on The Food Section for original, inclusive, and independent reporting about restaurants, bars, farmers, fishermen, food artisans—and everything else that influences how and what we eat and drink in the region today.
Here’s what you won’t find in The Food Section:
Breathless new restaurant coverage orchestrated by swanky PR firms
Mindless parroting of popular opinions or reflexive veneration of popular people
Unsubstantiated rumors, unearned praise, unfair treatment, or unquestioning acceptance of authority
Instead of propping up the status quo, The Food Section offers intelligent food journalism that helps make sense of the South’s extraordinary and complex culinary scene.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
The Food Section publishes three times a week.
On Mondays at 8 a.m., paid subscribers receive the week’s showpiece article, which could be an investigative expose; reported feature; topical essay or restaurant review.
On Wednesdays at 8 a.m., paid subscribers receive a collection of short news briefs and an array of fun columns highlighting overlooked stories from Southern food history, restaurants opening far from the beaten path, country cooking institutions, and a can’t-miss food festival scheduled for the upcoming weekend.
On Fridays at 8 a.m., non-paying readers receive a reminder to subscribe.
The Food Section was founded in 2021 to bring quality food journalism to the South’s underserved states, cities, and towns. The best way to support its work is to subscribe today.
The Food Section offers two membership levels:
A basic membership costs $9 a month or $99 a year. In addition to receiving the twice-weekly newsletters described above, members of The Food Section can participate in the newsletter’s comments section and join its subscribers-only Facebook group. Members also receive invitations to occasional virtual and in-person events.
A Food Journalism Champion membership costs $199 a year. In addition to receiving the basic membership benefits described above, Champions receive The Food Section’s print quarterly as soon as it’s published. They also get major investigative reports and restaurant reviews in their inboxes before the general paying public.
The Food Section offers free subscriptions to out-of-work journalists and others for whom the standard price represents a hardship. E-mail readthefoodsection@gmail.com to join the list.
Background info
Hanna Raskin, who received a Substack Local grant to start The Food Section, was formerly the food editor and chief critic for The Post and Courier. Here’s a sampling of her work at the paper.
During Raskin’s eight-year tenure, she was nominated for four James Beard Foundation awards, winning the organization’s first-ever prize for local impact journalism. Her work has also been recognized by the Society of Features Journalism, National Center on Disability and Journalism and the South Carolina Press Association, which in 2018 named her the state’s top beat reporter.
Raskin served as president of Association of Food Journalists and headed its ethics committee. She lives in Charleston, S.C. but is frequently on the road (or the rails) in the South.
The Food Section’s logo was designed by Gil Shuler. Steve Fennessey serves as its consulting editor.
Assorted endorsements

Hanna Raskin @hannaraskin
To all the good eaters of Charlotte: As you plan your weekend, please consider joining me on Saturday from 4-5 p.m. at Assorted Table @7thPublicMarket for the final meetup of my whistle stop tour! https://t.co/UtKMysmPrQ https://t.co/zLsyRhACRs



Hanna Raskin @hannaraskin
Super excited to embark on this new project; many thanks to @SubstackInc for supporting it. You can learn more here about what's in store and join the e-mail list so you don't miss the launch: https://t.co/ptxl7W39yx https://t.co/BLAlsgvNcF
Hanna Raskin @hannaraskin
I'll be at The Post and Courier through July 2, so keep those news tips coming! Then as of Independence Day, I'm out on my own. (Did I mention you can sign up here for updates? https://t.co/HCvqQoHrtn)
David Hagedorn @DCHagedorn
Sign up for @hannaraskin's Substack if you're in the food world and subscribe to excellence. https://t.co/b0k7TMjOcM
Hanna Raskin @hannaraskin
Super excited to embark on this new project; many thanks to @SubstackInc for supporting it. You can learn more here about what's in store and join the e-mail list so you don't miss the launch: https://t.co/ptxl7W39yx https://t.co/BLAlsgvNcF
Hanna Raskin @hannaraskin
Super excited to embark on this new project; many thanks to @SubstackInc for supporting it. You can learn more here about what's in store and join the e-mail list so you don't miss the launch: https://t.co/ptxl7W39yx https://t.co/BLAlsgvNcF