Pamela Parseghian ’81, Editor of Nation’s Restaurant News
When you think of a magazine editor, the image of a red marker slashing through a writer’s much-loved words comes to mind. And that image—tempered by the fact that most editing is now done on the computer—still holds true. But when you talk to Pamela about her last job as executive food editor at Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), she also tells you about her trip to Turkey to follow a story about the hazelnut, her visit to Mexico’s avocado growers to learn about the luscious green fruit, or standing on a beach in Iceland eating Hákarl—fermented shark.
Today Pamela is a contributing food writer for the magazine FoodService Director and its corresponding website, foodservicedirector.com. The publication is the premier magazine for informing non-commercial foodservice operators about innovations and innovators through trends, news, and insights and delivers solutions and strategies to over 45,000 highly targeted readers in all segments of non-commerical foodservice, including colleges, business & industry, contract management, schools, healthcare, correctional facilities, and military.
Pamela has always loved recipes and the written word in equal parts. But she also knew that to successfully write about food you had to taste a lot and learn to really cook. After receiving a degree in journalism and business at New York University, she entered the CIA. Upon graduation she headed to Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked hard and ate all kinds of food to gather as much culinary input as possible. When Pamela returned to the U.S., she joined the kitchen at the renowned La Crémaillère in Banksville, NY. But food writing was still a dream. She took courage in hand and called the editor of Cook’s Illustrated to ask for the job she wanted—food writer. She got it and from there eventually moved to NRN. In addition to her work at FoodService Director Pamela continues to freelance as a food editor and writer bringing her special knowledge and insight as a CIA graduate to every project.