Written by Amy Stoltenberg
Photo by Katherine Rountree
Sarah Karnasiewicz, a James Beard Award winning author, gave a lecture Monday night at the SCAD Museum of Art. She spoke about her dynamic journey as a creative, from earning a degree in photography from Yale University to her life now as a food columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
To open the lecture, Karnasiewicz acknowledged her job may seem like a walk in the park, an occupation that involves frolicking away in the kitchen all day or being paid to sample an assortment of cheese. However, her job as a food columnist and recipe developer involves hard work, dedication, and deadlines–and a glass of wine.
Karnasiewicz’s career as a creative professional has been a diverse one, indeed. Admitted to Yale as an English major, she eventually got a degree in fine arts, which led her to an internship with photographer Sally Mann. It was while living in a small, isolated farm house during this time that Karnasiewicz first fell in love with cooking.
“I spent hours in the library reading through cookbooks, and started cutting out pictures of recipes and taping them in notebooks,” she said. “I began to see food and cooking as a way of exploring the culinary ideas of culture, art, creativity, and place.”
After several years of working as a photographer, and then as an art teacher, Karnasiewicz returned to school at NYU to pursue a master’s degree in journalism. She said this decision was one of the best in her life, and the contacts and support she gained there helped bring her to where she is today. In addition to writing for the Wall Street Journal, she contributes to Saveur Magazine and is deputy editor for Salon.com.
When asked why she writes about such a trivial topic as food, Karnasiewicz’s response is simple: “Like most other humans, I am hungry.”
Hungry, in her opinion, pertains to so much more than just food. As humans, we hunger for our basic primal needs–love, health, security, shelter, and food–and all of these needs are intertwined. Writing about hunger for food is writing about hunger for satisfaction and fulfillment, about the hunger to share those meals with those people that we love.”
For the second half of her talk, Karnasiewicz shared some advice for aspiring writers and creatives, both from her own storage of wisdom and from that of her peers and editors. She emphasized the importance of getting an internship, the insignificance of living in New York, and the necessity of always giving back to people around you.
“Check your ego, and take every opportunity that comes to you, no matter how trivial. Even if its scares you out of your wits, every experience is a good experience,” she said.
First-year animation major Robert Yanes said he appreciated that Karnasiewicz’s advice stemmed from such a diverse artistic background. “It was an inspiring, motivational lecture that can apply for any area and any goal in your life.”
Karnasiewicz’s parting advice was to “smile and fake it until you make it. Because you will make it.”
