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Interview with Paulette Licitra Alimentum is a first of its kind, biannual literary journal devoted exclu-sively to “the literature of food”: stories, poetry, and creative nonfiction, with food not always the subject, but always central to the works. Issue One features poems by Rebecca Schuman and Cortney Davis, as well as both an interview with and a short story by Mark Kurlansky, perhaps best known for his non-fiction books Salt: A World History, and Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed America. But not all of Alimentum’s contributors are known for their food writing. Neurologist and author Oliver Sachs contributed a piece about pineapples and the toll they took on his teeth. And novelist Donald New-love, whose book about his alcoholic past, Those Drinking Days: Myself and Other Writers, is a cult classic among AA goers, wrote what amounts to a paean to risotto. And though the journal does indeed cater to the appetites of a food-smitten culture (New York Times reporter Florence Fabricant described it as a source for “thoughts on food, for those who like to digest ideas”), the primary emphasis is on quality writing. With its succulent poems, scrumptious stories and juicy essays, it may best be described as a journal for literary gourmands—those wishing to sate a loftier appetite. The journal has a unique, small format—easy enough, one imagines, to hold in your hand while stirring the béchamel. It’s also spiffily designed, with winning spot illustrations and a distinctively warm classical touch that, along with the journal’s retrograde Latin name, feels reactionary—a response, perhaps, to other magazines tripping over themselves to be edgy and slick. Alimentum seeks fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry around and on the subject of food. Ongoing submissions are accepted via snail mail (please include an SASE); shorter submissions (under 1200 words) may be sent by email when pasted into the body of the message (please, no attachments). Five-poem limit on poetry submissions. Contributors paid in copies. Alimentum does not consider previously published work. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Please allow one to three months for response. A: Since we are a literary journal devoted exclusively to the literature of food, the works do have to have something to do with eating and or food. But you’d be surprised—or maybe not—by how much and in how many ways food touches our lives. So far we’ve had everything from a story about a girl teaching her little brother to make pancakes, to a poem set on a fat farm, to the tale of an adulterous affair between an insomniac housewife and a baker who works in the nude. Then of course there are the nonfiction pieces, like one about a family’s emotional upheavals as played out at the dinner table over the course of decades, and one about eating guinea pig in Peru. But it’s the quality of writing that comes first. To be more specific, we like writing that’s sensuous, soulful and sincere. How’s that? LYNN: Best tips for submitting to your journal/ A: Read it first. We really aren’t all that interested in straight journalism, or in stories about the five-star meal you ate last summer in Provence. Gourmet and Saveur cover those territories pretty well. We’re looking for fiction and non-fiction stories driven by voice and character, in which food plays an important, but not necessarily the central, role. Ultimately most of our fiction is about people, not food. And even the poems convey a sense of character. If we never live to see another Ode to the Onion, it won’t be too soon. Also, style is important. We think writing should have a good ear the same way a drinkable wine has a good nose. |
Paulette Licitra
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