Writing "Reviews of New Food" for McSweeney's

Amy Cipolla Barnes offers tips for writing for the McSweeney's column and other insights into her often food-centric writing

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Sometimes people ask me for tips for writing for McSweeney’s and one thing I think can be helpful is to target one of the sections or “types” of pieces they frequently run on the site. One such section is “Reviews of New Food.”

I haven't written for that section, so I asked Amy Cipolla Barnes, who has written several pieces for it, to share some insights into it.

I think I initially met Amy through some Facebook writing groups or old Twitter. Then at the most recent AWP conference, we got a chance to meet in real life. In this conversation, we discuss writing “Reviews of New Food,” writing mainstream and literary pieces, and her latest collection Child Craft.

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You have written several pieces for McSweeney's "Reviews of New Food" section. I think of you as the Queen of that section!  I think the food reviews have a different feel to them than some of the other McSweeney's pieces. How would you describe a typical piece in that section? 

I’ve been submitting to McSweeney’s for over a decade. The first few years were spent like other McSweeney’s submitters – with kind rejections for the main columns. With each submission, I think I learned more about the tone of McSweeney’s overall. I began submitting to the “Reviews of New Food” section. It took a few tries but I finally had a “review” accepted. 

I love how you and I connected through humor writing (the now-defunct Pitch site) and came together by collaborating in a food-related column at McSweeney’s. While the team take on “What Your Favorite Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Says About You” was technically about food, it wasn’t a “new food review.”

However, there are elements in that piece and the reviews column that I think do reflect McSweeney’s—the sharp satire that often is directed at readers to self-examine perhaps, but moreso, a look at life whether that’s about things like eating, parenting, or politics.

I write about food in my more commercial writing for sites like Southern Living, The Spruce Eats, and Allrecipes, and have also done humor writing at various outlets. When I found the “reviews of new food” column, it felt like the perfect juncture of food, literary, and humor. While the “reviews” column is as ambiguous as maybe the submission guidelines for all of McSweeney’s, it helps me to have “food” and “review” as guidelines. 

I took the approach of combining my article, food, and essay writing and added some wackiness to get that first *review* accepted. I’ve also done humor writing for Pitch, Botnik Studios, College Humor, The Cooper Review, The Higgs Weldon, and others. That more specific humor writing helped in approaching McSweeney’s writing too.

What do you think makes a good potential topic for a food review? Am I correct that the reviews are of actual new foods and not made-up foods? 

The “new food reviews” are of actual foods, not always brand new, but usually newer. I keep a running list of foods that fascinate me, whether that’s a snack at Cracker Barrel or Costco, a unique soda, an odd version of an existing food, or a special edition version.

Within that same realm, I try to balance out the food review with another recognizable theme, object, or person. Sometimes, that’s pop culture or a TV show (Mrs. Maisel, Dolly Parton), a holiday (Oktoberfest, Easter and St. Patrick’s Day), my kids (Chuck E. Cheese pizza), my own childhood (dried corn in a silo, Midwestern donuts), or something I imagine about the business that created the product.

The reviews that I’ve had accepted seem to be the ones that have a deeper connection to something personal and that stick with two things: the food and only one theme. I think the main page columns have similar limited focus too. Sound of Music. Parenting. 

I still get rejected often. As a side note, even my accepted and published pieces are not always “good” to the public. I have had multiple random strange men email me to let me know that I have written something historically inaccurate or somehow wrong. These emails are always presented with their extensive credentials which don’t include McSweeney’s publications.

They also miss the crucial fact that I think is often misconstrued: McSweeney’s is satire. It is not real. There may be real elements interspersed. The email that made me laugh the most was correcting something very specific about Austrian history, in a piece that featured a narrator basically hallucinating in an Aldi. 

Can you talk a bit about what your writing process was for one of your "Reviews of New Food" pieces?

I write them in a similar way that I do for my other writing - I make notes about interesting products and take phone pictures. If something really strikes me, I’ll move the thoughts on the image to a Google doc and do a loose draft and then I edit, edit and edit some more. 

Recently, I did a collaborative piece of Peeps Pepsi with another lovely writer friend. That process was similar as we focused on the product on Walmart shelves and Easter. We worked from a common Google Doc with initial brainstorming, drafting, and then, editing. 

What other tips would you have for writers wanting to write a new food review?

I think the new food review section can be a great way to break into McSweeney’s because there’s a little more guidance on what to write. It’s still not specific but having the details of the section being: “reviews” and about food can help guide.

I also read a lot of the old reviews before I started submitting and continue to follow them now so I don’t repeat a type of or specific food. Even though the reviews have changed over the past decade, there’s still an overarching tone that comes through I think, even from a lot of different writers. 

It’s good to remember that they’re not usually traditional “reviews” like you might find in a food magazine or for a restaurant or even on Yelp, but there does need to be some review-style commentary on the food. That could be as simple as sensory details about how the product tastes, feels, or sounds. 

I would also say to write your first draft a little wacky. Do some brainstorming. Don’t write “I’m eating a hamburger in McDonald’s and it tastes like meat” unless you’re giving the review in Hemingway’s voice reincarnated in McDonalds from a time machine.

Think about where the hamburger came from, the life of the cow, how you were a vegetarian for two weeks in third grade, or how Ronald loves the hamburger so much that his wig is made of meat, like Lady Gaga’s meat dress. Try building on something universal and recognizable, and add your own personal twist. 

I know you do a mix of writing more literary pieces and more journalistic/service pieces. Do you try to do a mix of both or do you find you focus on one more than the other? 

The journalistic/lifestyle/service pieces are the ones that pay money. It’s always fascinating to me when my service pieces or recipes are echoed a little in the literary side of things. For example, I did a new food review of First Watch’s Millionaire Bacon and also created and tested a Millionaire bacon recipe for Southern Living that was one of the year’s top recipes. Note: my McSweeney’s bacon review was not. 

I find myself focusing on the service pieces when I’m struggling with creativity. The more formulaic format is easier to do when I’m not feeling imaginative. Right now, I’m writing as a more regular contributor so I’m not in a constant pitch cycle on the more journalistic front. 

McSweeney’s has also intersected with my journalistic side. I had a small visual piece (from a community call) published in the print Quarterly Issue 57. There’s also a video of me out there somewhere as part of a group of contributors wishing McSweeney’s Happy 21st Birthday in 2019. I also did proofreading and fact-checking for two other Quarterly issues. 

Tell us a bit about your latest book.

Child Craft is a hybrid collection of flash and micro fiction, but also essays and creative non-fiction. I don’t specify which is which. The title is a reference to the Childcraft children’s encyclopedias, infused with the double meaning of crafting children and crafting mothers.

Its prose and CNF play with the literal and figurative meaning of “crafting.” There is a fair amount of food included in the stories and essays, of course. I tend to get fixated with specific foods - in Child Craft, there are multiple stories with mentions of pickles. My second collection was cans of peas, and the first one had a watermelon image on the cover.  

And, because it is a hybrid collection, including a McSweeney’s new food review felt like a necessary addition. My review of Chuck E Cheese’s frozen pizza from Kroger appears amongst parenting essays and fictional stories. It’s an interesting addition because many of my literary friends and also, lifestyle writing community, aren’t aware of my McSweeney’s pieces. Including the review became a great juncture of all my writing worlds and something I love seeing in the table of contents. 

Thanks, Amy! Learn more about Amy in her bio below:

Amy Cipolla Barnes is the author of three collections: Mother Figures (ELJ Editions, 2021), Ambrotypes (Word West LLC, 2022), and Child Craft (Belle Point Press, 2023). She has words at The Citron Review, Spartan Lit, JMWW Journal, No Contact Mag, Leon Review, Complete Sentence, The Bureau Dispatch, Nurture Lit, X-R-A-Y Lit, McSweeney’s, -ette review, Southern Living, Allrecipes, Forbes, Apartment Therapy, USAToday, Parade, Simplemost and many other sites. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, long-listed for the Wigleaf Top50 in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and included in The Best Small Fictions, 2022. She’s a Fractured Lit Associate Editor, Gone Lawn co-editor, Ruby Lit assistant editor, Narratively Chief Submissions Reader, and reads for The MacGuffin, The Best Small Fictions, The Porch TN, and CRAFT.

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