Clara Weiss
Features, guidebooks and cookbook editing
I spent twelve years on the food desk of a city magazine, the last eight as its editor: restaurant reviews, a weekly market column and an annual guide that sold out every November. In 2020 I went freelance to report further from home and to work on books.
Most of my work now is reported features for magazines and newsletters, guidebook chapters that need every listing visited again, and editing cookbooks and travel books before they go to a publisher or a designer. I test recipes in the books I edit, and I tell you which ones did not work.
I take two or three book projects a year, so dates fill early. For features, send a short pitch or a brief and I will reply within two working days.
Before journalism I cooked for four years in restaurant kitchens in Philadelphia and Lyon, which is still the most useful training I have had for writing about food.
Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
From editors and authors
Clara files clean copy two days early and every fact holds up. Her piece on Lisbon’s fish markets was our most-read feature of the year.
Her editorial letter reorganised the book in a way I could not see myself. The structure she suggested is the one we printed.
Forty guidebook listings, all revisited, all on time.