A new food magazine, Eat Local, aims to spread the message of good food, according to its publisher and creative director, Heather Muse.
“Part of our philosophy for our magazine is about eating well and building community,” says Muse, a professional food photographer. “I grew up eating dinner with my family every night. We want to emphasize the importance of sitting down, of slowing down.”
Heather Muse is the creative director and publisher of Eat Local Magazine.
The quarterly magazine, released for the first time in print in December, features stories about local restaurants, chefs, producers and products. Described as her “passion project,” the fledgling publication is funded from Muse’s own pocket at this point, supplemented with advertising dollars from local businesses.
The first issue profiles wild food filmmaker Kevin Kossowan, and puts readers in the centre of a day in the life of Sugared and Spiced owners Amy Nachtigall and Jeff Nachtigall. It offers recipes, beautifully illustrated, that have been developed and tested by Muse’s sister, Laura Muse.
Eat Local Magazine is a new food magazine in Edmonton.
Muse, a photographer for more than six years who has a bit more time for outside work since her youngest entered school, had met many of the small food growers and makers through her business. She believes her publication can help local food businesses increase their profiles, and with any luck, their sales.
“The food business is hard,” says Muse, who produces Eat Local Magazine out of her photographic studio, located on her acreage southwest of Edmonton. “One of the things we have going for us is that we don’t have to hire photographers and writers because me and a group of friends are doing all the work.”
All staff at Eat Local are volunteers, but Muse hopes to grow the publication to the point where she can pay people. The first run of 3,000 magazines can be found for free in a variety of local food shops, such as the Italian Centre shops, Ritchie Market and the Brown Butter Cafe. Readers can also look online for the digital version, or have a hard copy mailed to them (for $7.95). Muse hopes to publish 10,000 copies of Eat Local within a few months.
A pilot edition of Eat Local, produced in the fall, is available on-line, as will be each edition of the magazine. But Muse loves the hard copy of Eat Local.
“We hope the magazine will stick around in people’s houses, and we want the recipes there so people will try them, and share the magazine, so others can learn about the people in the magazine,” she says.
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