FOOD . Top 5

Local Foodie Jobs

Working The Dough


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Published: Mar 28, 2007

1 Literary Agent Clare Pelino

Food professionals who dream of big-time book deals look up Clare Pelino, the publicist/literary agent behind Pro Literary Consultants. Pelino has secured contracts for Fork co-owner Ellen Yin, whose Forklore: Tales and Recipes From an American Bistro is out this fall; Dogfish Head owner Sam Calagione and super-sommelier Marnie Old; and more Aliza Green books than you can flick a whisk at.

2 Food stylist Katrina Tekavec

You can find gorgeous photos — glossy food porn a la Playboy — in everything from Bon Appétit to Philly Style. But what about those lesser foods — the Hustlers, if you will — from companies like Perdue, Prego, Heinz and Campbell's? When those products are in need of some commercial lovin', they call local food stylist Katrina Tekavec. Not only does she make tony restaurant fare from Morton's of Chicago look pretty; she does it for Ronzoni and Manischewitz, too.

3 Food Smeller Marcia Levin Pelchat

Marcia Levin Pelchat, a sensory scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in West Philly, knows noses. Pelchat specializes in the neuroimaging of sensory and evaluative responses to food, our personal preferences and the mechanisms of food cravings. For fun, she leads tours, lunches and lectures on scent.

4 Food Taster/Consultant Dan Macey

Dantasticfood isn't an expletive; it's the name of the company run by Philadelphia's Dan Macey, a writer turned food stylist, who first developed his palate by food-tasting, then consulting on recipes for everyone from the corporate bigwigs at Aramark to Food Network's Emeril Lagasse and PBS' Nick Stellino. (Fun Fact: Macey's also an on-air pitchman who's done pizza ads and commercials for the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association.)

5 Food Biographer Carolyn Wyman

Some of you (OK, I) know Carolyn Wyman as a City Paper copy editor. She scrutinizes my rantings like a beat cop hunting for a junkie's works. Others dig her syndicated "Supermarket Sampler" columns. But Wyman has also investigated the secret lives, hidden histories and pop-cultural esprit behind some of our favorite eats. While her Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat features bios of meal kits like Hamburger Helper, she's spent entire books on single products: SPAM and Jell-O, specifically.