Taking Care of Business

It’s been just about two months since we launched, and boy are our arms tired. Did you know it takes a lot of work to run a website? On top of bringing you reports on the history of hot dogs and why every chef is starting a Substack, we have been working on making Ravenous bigger and better. So we wanted to let you know a few cool things we’ve been up to behind the scenes.

We are thrilled to announce that we are members of Tiny News Collective, an incredible organization that provides support for and helps foster community among independent journalists. We’ve already had such a great time connecting with other members and taking advantage of the amazing resources TNC provides. We’ll have more updates about this partnership shortly; there’s lots of great stuff in the works.
Our very own Ashok was selected to be a part of the Project C Journalism Creators Startup Lab, a program helping independent journalists build sustainable journalism businesses. We are so excited for this opportunity, and can’t wait to implement more of what Ashok learns.
We figured out a better way to paywall. Now, instead of us choosing, our free members can read any two posts a month. Of course, if you want to read more than just two posts, become a paid member, and you can read everything we publish.

We are always looking for more ways to connect and collaborate with independent journalists and other worker-owned outlets, so if that’s you, our lines are open!

New Stories This Week

Bird Droppings 🐦‍⬛

ICYMI, we went hard on American food for July Fourth. Courtney looked into the mysteries behind flag cake, Amy wrote about bomb pops and America’s obsession with war, and I pondered why we eat hot dogs on the hottest days of the year.
Courtney was on the great podcast Not From Concentrate to talk about how we built Ravenous, the food media landscape, and the nuts and bolts of making local stories relevant to a national audience. Listen here!
Stumptown Savings sent volunteers to WinCos around Portland to figure out why their pricing varies so much from store to store.
Brooke Shields, in her role as Actors’ Equity president, delivered a letter demanding better working protections to Casa Bonita — the Mexican restaurant owned by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone — after workers represented by the union reported dangerous working conditions and unfair pay. For example, the restaurant’s diving performers say they’ve suffered hypothermia and chlorine toxicity. That does not sound like food and fun in a festive atmosphere.
Blind item: Apparently, there’s a food writer who’s been “writing” their PAID newsletter with AI. Couldn’t be us!