Time to get thinking! We’re really very excited to get to share the theme for our sixth issue with you all.
The next issue is going to be all about AUTHENTICITY.
What makes food authentic? Do recipes need to have been passed down through generations, untouched by changes to society and circumstance, to qualify? Do we need to have been taught how to cook by some elderly relative to be authentic cooks? Do our meals need to use ingredients grown in a particular location? And does authentic food equal better food?
We can talk about authenticity as a socially constructed idea, enforced by our own personal assumptions of what the food should be. But it can also be the distinction between what we think the food should be and what the food actually is- a reflection of what we actually eat at home. Authenticity can be a vehicle to respect tradition, and by extension, the many hands that have made the thing before us. A way to connect with those no longer here or people we never would know otherwise.
We want this issue to be an exploration into origin, appropriation and progress; where our recipes come from, who owns them and what they become as society changes around them. We want your personal stories of what authenticity means to you, your best authentic recipes, and your most inauthentic. We want to share as many sides of the argument as possible, and the stories that go along with it.
To get you thinking, we’d recommend this Eater article by Jaya Saxena and this one from Time Out by Surekha Ragavan.
Interested? Here's what you need to know:
As usual, we’re accepting work in all formats that can be printed on paper- written pieces (both non-fiction and fiction), poetry, recipes, illustrations, comics and other visual work.
The closing date is 2nd February, 2022 at 11.59pm (GMT).
What really brings us joy is publishing stories that haven’t been told before, so we welcome submissions from everyone- any background, experience level, country. We’d love you to share your recipes with us too, and in particular recipes you’ve not seen published in cookbooks before.
Everyone who’s work is selected will be paid via a royalties system- there’s a link at the bottom of the email to explain this in better detail.
The technical stuff:
* Written pieces should be a max. of 900 words (don’t worry too much about this, it’s just a guideline)
* All work is now submitted using this Google Form
* For visual submissions, the resolution should be set to 300 dpi but file size doesn’t matter. We print A5 and please include a 3mm bleed around your artwork too in case we want to use it as a full page image.
Also, we’re very excited to say that as well as accepting finished work for the submissions, we’re also going to be considering pitches! Basically, it means there’s ways of contributing to us now that don’t involve putting your time into making something without knowing if it’ll be in the issue. However, if you are considering the pitching route, there’s a couple of caveats to know about; we will need a sample of your previous work as a reference (whether it’s writing, illustration etc.) and if your pitch is selected, we’ll need it completed within two weeks.
To show you how it all works, we put together a submission guide. It’ll be on the website soon, but for now you can see it on our Instagram here.
Got a question? Send it to hello@potluckzine.co.uk
Here's the Google Form to submit through: https://forms.gle/Ps89cN8m3vAWhT4Q9
Please note that all submissions must be sent in via the Google Form to be considered.
Feeling all inspired and excited? Us too. We cannot wait to see what you come up with! Over the next 3 weeks whist submissions are open we’ll be sharing various things to inspire you but in the meantime, we’re going to leave you with some useful links:
For more information on how contributors get paid for their work, click here!
For more information on who we are and how we run our business, click here!