29 Publications that Pay for Writing on Food & Drinks

Today, for our latest roundup of publishers, we have a list of 29 publications that pay for writing on food and drinks.

We’ve researched payment rates and found contact information for all of these publishers, to make it easy for you to connect with the right opportunity.

For paid Litworth subscribers, you can see many more opportunities in our database, including 162 publishers that cover these topics.

If you’re new to freelancing, I also very much encourage you to take our course on pitching. You can get the details here.

So, without further ado, here’s today’s list…

1. The Food Section is a newsletter providing food and drink coverage across the American South. They’re actively looking for freelancers to contribute to their newsletter, with a focus on reported stories that showcase the South’s diversity. They pay $1058.16 per feature story (about 1,200 words). To learn more, refer to their guidelines.
2. Bon Appétit is a magazine that features recipes, cooking tips, reviews, and more. They are seeking “mid-to-longform reported articles that reflect the food world right now; profiles of fascinating, awesome people in food; hot takes on minuscule details like folding pizza; and personal essays with a strong angle.” Payment reports indicate that they pay up to $0.50 per word. To pitch, visit this page.
3. Serious Eats is an award winning food and drink website, with over seven million monthly visitors. They publish “rigorously tested recipes, science-driven cooking techniques, robust equipment reviews, and stories that offer cultural and historical context to the foods we love to eat.” According to a very old payment report, they paid $0.13 for a 750-word opinion. To learn more, visit this page, and read their pitching guidelines here.
4. Eater is a national publication that covers the world of food and drink, with particular emphasis on restaurants. They are looking for reported stories rather than personal narratives. They want “stories where food and restaurants intersect with, illuminate, or are illuminated by other subjects: business, technology, history, science, politics, society, activism, identity, the arts, pop culture, etc.Selected stories are paid competitive rates determined by the extent and nature of the work. According to an old payment report, they pay $0.43 per word.To learn more, check out their pitching guidelines
5. Epicurious is a resource for home cooks. They publish “stories about cooking better, faster, and more creatively, sustainably, and affordably.” According to their deleted tweet from their senior editor, they pay about $400 per piece (700 to 800 words). For details, read their pitching guidelines.
6. The Dirty Spoon is a radio show and an online journal about the people behind our meals. They welcome submissions from first-time authors, established writers, chefs, servers, food industry workers, farmers, foodies, non-foodies. Word count for finished essays, profiles and articles is 800-1500 words. They pay $25 to $50. To learn more, read their submission guidelines here.
7. The Vegan is a quarterly magazine by the Vegan Society. They offer updates, ideas, and resources about veganism to their subscribers. They accept pitches from vegan writers, journalists, or recipe developers. Their fees start from £250 for articles and £150 for reviews. For more information, refer to this page.
8. Pellicle is a primarily UK-based consumer drinks publication that focuses on beer, wine, and cider and the majority of stories they aim to publish focus on these topics. They are mostly interested in these types of stories: narrative-style profiles, first-person experiences or travelogues, investigative reporting on challenging topics, and thought-provoking Q&A’s. For features, they pay £0.24p/word up to the length of 1500 words and a flat rate of £500 for long reads. For more information, read their pitching guide.
9. VinePair is a digital media company that publishes accessible, entertaining, and inspiring content about drinks culture and important trends and topics in wine, beer, and spirits. According to a payment report, they pay $0.27 per word for a 1500-word feature. To learn more, visit their website, and read their pitching guidelines here.
10. Pit is a magazine with roots in pit barbecue cooking. They don’t mind straying from the barbecue focus, however. They’ve published work by food historians, psychologists, musicians and, recently, an original short story from a writer of non-food fiction. They are flexible with words but their pieces range between 1000 to 2500 words. They pay £150-£200 per piece, photographers get paid £100-£200 and illustrators £150 (single piece) or £800-1000 (whole issue). To learn more, read their pitching guidelines.