I love travel. Getting to know new people, learning about new cultures, and seeing new things all inspires me. But since I'm a poor broke college student, and traveling all over the world whenever I please isn't an option for me (as of right now, someday it will be!), my favorite thing to do is to get a taste of different cultures -- literally! One of the six common feature types is food, and that's exactly the one I would love to do!
There are so many trends in this category, it's kind of ridiculous. I got so caught up reading about different recipes and shows and watching episodes of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman that I almost forgot I was supposed to be doing research. One trend in food is the whole non-processed, GMO-free, organic trend. I know a lot about this particularly, because my boyfriend's mom happens to be totally into it. No, seriously, she lectured me for eating a Togo's salad. And here I was, thinking I was being all healthy and getting a salad. Another huge trend is the recent growth in cooking shows and competitions. Iron Chef, Hell's Kitchen, and Cupcake Wars are all relatively common names. Even if you haven't seen them, you've heard about them. The celebrity chefs, and the "how-to" cooking shows have also been on the rise. To top it all off, there are now some (really awesome) travel shows that focus less on the travel and more on the food. Another super interesting trend is the idea of food sustainability. We all have to eat, but up until recently, none of us really thought about how what we ate affected the environment. Now, "sustainably farmed" is a term found on tons of food containers and labels, and the idea of a "Meatless Monday" to help the environment is catching on quickly.
A feature story idea I've come up with is writing about the new juicing trend. Recently, when I've gone to shop for groceries, I have come across tons (I mean like entire aisles full) of juices that claim to be 100% natural, healthy, beneficial, and have a ridiculous amount of fruits and veggies in them. Even people who don't buy the pre-packaged juice seem to be buying into the idea that you should juice your kale and carrots and drink it, instead of just eating your veggies like your parents always told you to do. Pros to an article on this would be that everyone seems to know about it; so getting interviews and statements should be easy. Also, I happen to love Naked juices, and drink them in the mornings when I'm running late and don't have time for breakfast. A unique angle on the topic should be pretty simple. I personally have never read an article on these new types of juices before. Cons to writing this article would be that because this is a decently new trend, it's difficult to find real, credible research on the actual health benefits of drinking fruit and veggie juice. Also, juicers and packaged juice are two different things. I may have to seperate and differentiate between the two in order to have a clear story.
Another feature story idea I have is about sustainable seafood. I was raised on sushi, but recently it's come to my attention that half the stuff I eat is killing the environment. This makes me sad, and I wish I had been more aware of it sooner. Some pros of doing a story covering seafood sustainability is that there are a ton of resources I could use for it. Also, being ecofriendly is a huge trend right now. A green story would go over well. Some cons would be that not everyone likes seafood; I'd be writing to the percentage of people that eat seafood and actually care, which limits my audience. Also, it's hard not to sound too biased and preachy when covering environmental stories, especially because I'm really into saving the environment.
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