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Quick Take:
Vanessa Salvia answers seven questions about herself for Lookout Eugene-Springfield readers.
What is your role with Lookout Eugene-Springfield?
I am the food and beverage correspondent. My work in this area allows me to use the lens of food to understand and explore everything food means socially, economically, culturally, and politically. I’ll look at the big picture of food but keep the focus on what is happening locally, including the local dining scene.
Tell us about your career.
My journey as a writer and editor spans more than 25 years. I got my start writing about music for The Rocket in Portland (although I lived in Eugene at the time), and then transferred that experience to Eugene Weekly in 1999, writing the music column for about 10 years.
Eventually, I started writing about other topics, including gathering recipes and tips for the food-related special issues. I was attending the University of Oregon at the same time and had originally planned to get a master’s degree and teach middle school science. After graduating in 2006 with my bachelor’s degree in chemistry, I had a young daughter to raise and was more interested in joining the workforce than continuing with school. I let the writing work take over and that became my career.
I’ve had the privilege of working with diverse clients across numerous industries. After managing content and learning about SEO in the early days of websites for a Springfield-based website development agency, I started working with print magazines. I was the editor of Eugene Magazine from 2006 to 2011, and again from 2022 until earlier this year, when I left to come to Lookout Eugene-Springfield. I contributed to the Register-Guard from 2011 through 2018, writing for all of the special publications including food, outdoor recreation, and home and garden. I’ve been the editor for magazines and websites covering decorative concrete and other aspects of construction, land surveying, music, pets, dermatology, phlebology, and much more. I’ve also edited a few books.
I appreciate the variety of all I have been able to do in my career, but the opportunity to have a full-time focus on food and beverage in my community was just what I was looking for.
Why did you decide to join Lookout Eugene-Springfield?
After working for many years as a freelancer, primarily for print magazines and websites, I made a decision in 2023 to steer my career toward food. I took classes on book editing with the goal of working on cookbooks and studied book indexing. I achieved publication in national food industry magazines and was looking for more of that type of work because I never imagined a position like this would become available locally. When the opportunity arose to join Lookout Eugene-Springfield and focus on food writing within my own community, where I have lived since 1991, it felt like the perfect alignment of my professional experience, my personal interests, and my desire to contribute to local journalism.
What are your coverage priorities at Lookout Eugene-Springfield?
Food is a gateway to many other topics. Food is cultural. Food is political. Food is economic. Food is personal.
I believe access to food is a universal need and a basic human right (although in 2021, the U.S. voted against a United Nations draft that asserted food as a human right). It is fair to say that without food, there wouldn’t be anything else to pay attention to.
At Lookout Eugene-Springfield, I plan to explore all of these dimensions of food. Of course, I will keep readers informed about what restaurants open and close along with which restaurants and experiences I enjoy. But I’ll also investigate how our regional food systems operate — from farm to table. I want to explore the many culinary traditions that enrich our community, from the variety of foods available at food carts to long-time favorite restaurants that have become local institutions. I want to tell the stories behind specialty markets, family farms, and artisan producers. I’m particularly interested in telling stories about the people behind our food — the farmers, chefs, food cart operators, and innovators whose stories often go untold.
For the past five years, I have been a board member for a food rescue organization, Eugene Area Gleaners. I am also a Master Recycler. I’ll pay attention to food insecurity, food access, and food waste in Lane County and spotlight organizations working to address these challenges.
I’ll also focus on the impact of economic issues on local restaurants, farmers markets, and food and beverage producers as they navigate post-pandemic recovery and increasing prices on many ingredients they use on a daily basis.
What are your interests and/or hobbies?
I hope it wouldn’t surprise you at this point to learn that my hobbies revolve around food! I read cookbooks and recipes for fun. I’m always doing some sort of kitchen project. Making my own spice blends. Making my own Worcestershire sauce. Making pizza and pestos. I also preserve a lot of food by canning, freezing, dehydrating, pickling, fermenting, and infusing.
I have tested recipes for three cookbooks. I’ve also created the index for one cookbook and hope to do more of that in the future. Most people don’t seem to enjoy the tedious nature of indexing, but it suits me! I have a goal to publish my own cookbooks as well. My husband and I travel often and seek out Tiki bars everywhere we go — we’ve even been to a Tiki bar in Italy.
What is something unique or interesting about you that people should know?
In years past, I was a DJ for University of Oregon radio station KWVA 88.1, and I have a collection of hundreds of records, including a large section of lounge, exotica, Hawaiian, and novelty music.
What can readers expect from you in the coming weeks?
Readers can expect me to be visiting restaurants and food carts, going to events, introducing myself to people, and sharing a lot of what I am doing on my Instagram, @vanessaatthetable. I’m excited to start publishing the stories I have been working on. Some will introduce readers to local restaurants they may not know about and others will look at bigger-picture issues.
If you see me out and about, at a restaurant or event, stop me and say hi! If there’s a story you want told or something you think I should know about, please email me at vanessa@lookoutlocal.com!
