Hello friends, enemies, and everyone in between. This is Ashok Selvam, one of the five founder-owners at Ravenous, croaking at you from Chicago. Welcome to the first of what we hope is many (but not that many; we’re not going to overwhelm your inbox) newsletters. Thank you for the support after week one of our subscriber drive.
We’ve got three weeks to hit our fundraising goal and things look bright. Want to know more? Read on. And while doing that you might ask yourself, “what the hell did I sign up for?” That’s a great question, and one I’ve wrestled with since August when our merry band of miscreants first assembled. Establishing an LLC, finding lawyers, and figuring out all the right infrastructure to start a media company isn’t something they taught you in journalism school. But as we pause to take a breath from all those logistics, allow me to pose a question to you:
“Do you want to know why Jeppson’s Malört may be shadowbanned from the James Beard Awards?”
Apparently, Chicago’s polarizing bitter spirit is persona non grata at the Beards Restaurant and Chef Awards, held every summer in Chicago. This tale is one of many nuggets I uncovered last week while taking a tour of CH Distillery, the factory that produces Malört in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. I channeled Charlie (sans lederhosen) strolling through an amusement park where I smelled those wondrous aromas and marveled as machines filled glass bottles with yellowish gold. I even sampled a rare varietal aged a year and a half in Laphroaig Scotch barrels. It was outstanding — complex and a tad sweeter than the original without eliminating the spirit’s trademark bitterness. Now, Malört is low-hanging wormwood when it comes to Chicago food stories, but there’s a strong sect of superfans that love the floral and grapefruit notes. That popularity is growing coast to coast from LA to Texas to New York. Do you know how many past and present colleagues have bragged to me about Malört finally reaching their formerly uncultured cities asking if I would help them with a story? Too many.
Nevertheless, a legion has matured past the gimmick of the initial shot to genuinely appreciate the taste. These are the real ones who grow frustrated every time their iPhone autocorrects Malört to “Mallory” in their texts.
As it’s always best to sip from the primary source, my tour guide was CH Distillery CEO Tremaine Atkinson who acquired the Malört brand in 2018. As Ravenous raises money, we’re in preview mode, but you still familiarize yourselves with our ethics and about sections. When we officially take flight in early May, Ravenous subscribers will see a variety of stories featuring sources from across the country. One of those stories will include further details from the Malört tour and I’lI dive deeper into this alleged banishment. Perhaps there’s a possibility of redemption for this hometown hero. That’s the joy of journalism, and all five founders at Ravenous love the craft.
Over the past week as Ravenous debuted, we started introducing and reintroducing ourselves to you in a series of profiles.
Ace culture writer Amy McCarthy, one of my former comrades in the Vox Media Union, bemoaned the sad state of media, telling Jaya Saxena about her arduous career journey and her goal to build “a place for the people that I think are the smartest and most thoughtful writers in food media to work.”
Ravenous’ marketing genius Frances Dumlao chatted with Courtney E. Smith about her move from New Jersey to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Frances hopes Ravenous paves the way for more worker-owned publications telling Courtney that readers “don’t want to deal with AI slop or being bombarded with the same kind of content over and over again. They want something deeper.”
Starting a publication leaves yourself vulnerable and over the last few months we wondered if the public cared about independent media. This past week shows us that you agree with Frances: “Holy shit, there really are,” Courtney says.
In just eight days, Ravenous amassed more than 700 subscribers which translates to more than 40% of our fundraising goal. That helps pay for overhead — email accounts, interview transcription, design services, and more. The money helps pay for the time it takes to file FOIA requests and rifling through court records. We’ve got big plans, but we don’t want to oversell and underdeliver.
All five of us were in the trenches working in food media and saw the compromises. Our routines grew mundane and what was once a strength — vibrant writing, clever wit, and resonating with readers – were deemed disposable. We were sanded down to round pegs in square holes, despite our awards and the trust we had built with readers.
Not everyone is familiar with worker-owned media. Having a say in decision making and directly benefitting from those choices are two boons. We’re adamant this route allows us to forge our own destiny. It allows our small flock to trust each other, and belief in a newsroom is contagious, it’s powerful enough to turn a good story idea into a great idea. On the other end of the spectrum, absence of belief can tank a great story idea, ensuring the public will never read it. It’s especially challenging when roughly 931 press releases pummel your inbox sent by desperate publicists thanks to a dwindling number of food journalists, a product of the hellish media landscape and fewer jobs.
Both Courtney and Jaya shared their thoughts on interviewing their colleagues for their profiles. Jaya mentions her shared experiences on the union bargaining committee with Amy and how one late night waiting for management’s responses led to “deliriously making sculptures out of Babybel cheese wax.” Even through that shared experience, Jaya didn’t “realize the sheer breadth of Amy’s career, and how all that experience has deeply informed her values and reasons for wanting to be part of a worker-owned co-op.”
Courtney and Frances rarely worked together at Eater, so the interview became a teambuilding exercise with Frances gradually opening up: “I know she has gotten more comfortable because she really didn’t hold back, and ultimately said some stuff she made me edit out because it was informally revealing more than people needed to know,” Courtney says. “It made me really happy to feel like we’ve gained her trust.”
These reflections reveal that Ravenous might be infected with belief which is a danger to the status quo. Sorry, clankers.
🐦⬛ Bird droppings
- Listen to TASTE’s Matt Rodbard interview Jaya, who teases some of the stories we’re planning. Sound off if you want a Ravenous Group Chat, which is really a rebrand of the Live Blog, a practice we’d like to resurrect.
- Thank you to Adweek, Caper, D Magazine, Feed Me, Gourmet, Muck Rack, and Nieman Journalism Lab who were among the many who shared the news of our subscriber launch.
🥇 On Ravenous’ first week
“I went into this unsure of whether there were enough people who still cared about supporting independent media to sustain us. Holy shit, there really are. There are so many people who are passionate about worker-owned co-ops and who have the same values as us. We’ve gotten so much support from people who are into our mission even if they aren’t that into food, and I can’t wait to get them all excited about food. — CS
“The entire weekend before the launch I was full of nervous energy, and my wonderful wife, sensing my impending crash, asked what I needed on launch day. I told her she just needed to be in charge of all three meals so I did not have to make any decisions. When I wrapped up my day and emerged from my home office (aka our bedroom), I entered the kitchen to her cooking Dan Pelosi’s mushroom bolognese, and there was a glass of lambrusco waiting for me. It was the perfect quiet celebration. And then of course I fell asleep on the couch while watching the Knicks game.” — JS
“The day we launched, my college professor gave me a shout on BlueSky. Back in college, I was involved in a new student digital magazine called Loco Mag. Now, over a decade later, I am launching Ravenous, and the thrill of this moment feels very reminiscent of being in that classroom, working with a group of fervent editors trying to make the website turn on. And somehow it does. This feels like a full-circle moment.” — FD
“This week has been, in a word, insane. I am completely overwhelmed at how much support we have gotten, and it has been so affirming to learn that there is a demand for this work we want to do, that people are excited for it. I have been absolutely weepy at so many points throughout the week, especially in seeing the kind words from our colleagues in food media and the people who are looking forward to our official launch!! It has made all the work and the meetings over the last six months worth it, a million times over.” — AM
“There were several times over the last few months I questioned if I wanted to write ever again. I was angry and sad. Over my career I’ve fielded various coded mandates to tone it down; there’s still fear of a big brown planet. But you know what? Fuck that — anger can be power if you know how to use it. I’m rediscovering my voice, and over the last week the little interactions I’ve had with loyal readers has helped me navigate the madness of the last few months. I’ll still sleep more sound when the actual stories start flowing regularly. But, for now, we celebrate, something I didn’t feel I was allowed to do in 2025. And you don’t need Champagne and caviar bumps to do that.” — AS
Ravenous is in the middle of a subscription drive to support our launch, and we need your support. We want a place for the stories that really matter — the kind of stories that affect change in the hospitality industry and everything it touches, alongside fun and informative pieces for our readers.
If that sounds like the kind of journalism you're interested in, subscribe and join us.
