On November 20, five panelists got together with a vivacious moderator and an audience hungry for insight for 826’s first-ever food writing seminar. Ranging from chefs to bloggers to cookbook writers, the panelists entranced their onlookers with wisdom garnered from years of food writing, cooking, and sampling.

Each panelist has been involved in food writing for several years before it became a trendy, much-wanted career, especially in the Bay Area where the food culture continues to grow everyday. Molly Katzen, writer of The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, told the audience of her journey in the food industry. Not only had she once sold commercial products, but she is also a self-published author. Lessley Anderson, senior editor at CHOW.com, described what it was like to see the food trends coming and going through her website and her irritation for people’s overuse of bacon love in their writing. The panelists discussed their own heroes, mistakes they’ve made, and that the only way to understand food is to see how it’s made from beginning to end.

The audience picked up several tips on writing about their passion for food: stay away from the trends, don’t use the word “decadent” anymore, and not everything is better with bacon. Most importantly, write what you’re passionate about. This is the best way to make someone’s mouth water as soon as they pick up your words.