Q&A 2: Andrea Aliseda on writing, food & heritage
turning service work into a freelance writing ideas
What is happening everyone. It’s May, the best month of the calendar because it’s my birth month, I’m a May Day baby, and I hope that the holiday reminds you all to support workers’ rights.
Stuff I Published:
I wrote about how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the power dynamic between my me and my strict Caribbean parents for La Mujerista. Considering that it’s mami y papi’s fault that I’m alive paying bills every month… I may as well write about them.
I was featured in Abigail Koffler’s newsletter, This Need’s Hot Sauce. She was featured in the first Media Mercado freelancer Q&A last week. Learn more about my reporting, Puerto Rican and Dominican comfort food, why pana (breadfruit) is amazing, and immigrants during the pandemic.
Freelancer Q&A #2: Andrea Aliseda
For the next few months, I’ll try to conduct a Q&A with a fellow freelancer. I’ll highlight their journey, what it’s like to navigate a seemingly volatile career during so much uncertainty, and how other jobs have fueled their writing careers. Most of my interviews will be with women, people of color, and others who are underrepresented in media.
Andrea Aliseda is a food freelancer with bylines in Edible Brooklyn and Bklyner. I’ve loved reading her work and so I figured she’d make a great addition to the series.
When did you first start freelancing?
I began freelancing last spring.
Why did you decide to go that route in media?
I have had journalistic inclinations for a majority of my life, participating as a news anchor in school, and joining the newspaper in college. Journalism seeks to find the truth and tell it responsibly, something about that really speaks to me on many levels.
You happen to do a lot of food writing, what made you choose that as a focus for your writing?
I've worked in the restaurant industry my whole service-working (is that a thing?) career, with the only exception being my first job where I dressed up as an Easter bunny during spring break for mall photo ops. Food has been, in a way, the bass line of my life, strumming me along. It's something that I have gone back to over and over again, with a growing and evolving curiosity and passion for it. When journalism came into my life, I began by covering arts and culture writing which later morphed into music writing. Food writing wasn't a thing yet, that I remember. At some point, I started to realize food and eating was becoming really special to me. And one day after watching some Anthony Bourdain (bless him) episodes it kind of clicked that I wanted something like that for myself. It opened another door.
You have bylines that outline your Mexican heritage, how did you begin to work that into your writing?
Moving to New York completely reframed my ideas of what nourishment is. I had no idea just how important my culture and it's cuisine was to me until I didn't have easy access to it anymore, especially being vegan, and how important it was for me to practice my culture with my palate to soothe my soul. It sounds silly to say but, not having things like burritos or tacos or even hearing people speak Spanish on the street made me feel a sadness I didn't expect. Seeking it out helped me find some solace in the fact that my culture is alive in little corners of the city, and it became very energizing for me. In addition to that, I have to say, I was growing tired of the white narrative of my culture's cuisine. I wanted to see people like me recording my people's food from our perspective and our contexts (and I came to find that there are so many incredible writers doing this along the way!), it's so powerful when something is told from experience, you kind of just get it because you've been around it your whole life –– but I think it should be said this goes for any culture. All this to say: Ownership of my culture's narrative became really important in my work.
Do you have a favorite byline?
The Magic of the Vegan Caesar Salad at Scarr's Pizza is one of my favorites for sure. Chef Gerardo Gonzalez, who created the vegan caesar salad for Scarr's is originally from San Diego, where I'm from too, and he had so much context to build on the Caesar salad with –– which was created in Tijuana, B.C., where I was born. It was a really cool connection that gave that story a lot of life for me on a personal level. But also, the way in which the history of that Caesar salad from Tijuana from the 1920s tied into a modern-day Lower East Side pizza shop, an unlikely place for it to exist, was electrifying, it gave me a sense of what I wanted to focus my work on from there.
Another favorite piece, one which has nothing to do with Mexican food, was my first for Edible BK, I cooked and covered the same event and it was really playful. I think that came through in the writing. I felt like a double agent and that was pretty bad ass, I'd definitely love to do more of that.
If you could give your past self advice about freelancing, what would it be?
To just DO IT! I have to tell myself this all the time any way, but it took me a really long time to actually start pursuing freelancing from being paralyzed in anxiety and just generally thinking I wasn't good enough. It literally took me almost six years to even build up the guts to ask for help on how to pitch –– I probably still suck at it, but at least I'm still trying and that makes all the difference! I would also add: create or find a freelancing community. Freelancing can be so isolating, and not having people around to ask questions to about etiquette or rates etc can make it even more of a challenge, so, make media friends!
(Fuck anxiety!)
What's one pro and one con when it comes to being a freelance writer?
Pro: All day every day with my dog-daughter Blue! (And fleshing out what you like to write about, what calls to you!)
Con: Money is tight! (Also, creating a work space and time frame can be really challenging working from home)
So many freelancers, myself included have held different side gigs to support their freelance work, what kind of jobs have you done alongside your freelance writing?
Before COVID-19 hit I had just started a barista gig to help transition myself into a more sustainable freelancing groove. I'm re-imagining what that will look like now!
Is there a goal publication that you'd like to break into?
My Moby Dicks are probably: Bon Appetite, Vogue, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Mostly, though, because it's what I grew up reading and admiring, they're media giants and their influence has been felt for decades, so of course that'd feel special for me. Especially being an immigrant, to see my byline in a publication like The New York Times would be full circle.
Now though, as my style and understanding of storytelling and the publishing world has evolved, my eyes are set on different types of publications ––– smaller and with more attention to things I care about and center in my own life, a few on my radar are: Broccoli Mag, Eaten, Civil Eats, Tenderly and Whetstone Magazine. (And I won't lie, I'm still sad I'll never get to pitch to Lucky Peach.)
I'm really lucky though to have been able to write for two dream pubs early in my career, Edible and L.A. Taco –– thank you Alicia and Javier! That has been really encouraging.
This year I'm also delving more into poetry and exploring publishing that, so I'm excited to figure that one out.
What are other media/writing gigs that you think new freelancers should consider while they gain experience and forge connections with others in the industry?
Alex Zaragoza, senior culture writer from Vice, who I met while interning for Dave Maass at the late and great, San Diego CityBeat years ago sat with me over pizza last year and gave me this piece of advice: keep writing –– get writing work even if it isn't journalism just to keep working on your craft. I thought that was a good piece of advice, I'm still taking it and adapting it in ways that make sense for me. Thank you Alex!
To see more check out Andrea’s Instagram, Twitter and her website.