“It’s not a foodie mag, it’s a magazine about food.” At least that’s what Amy Robb and Lauren Titus, the forces behind the new Edible Northeast Florida magazine, would like you to know. We’ve been hearing some positive things about these ladies, and what they are doing with the Edible magazine, so we met up to get some details about the first issue out this week!
Amy and Lauren’s mission is a simple one: to bring a beautiful magazine to Northeast Florida focused on the best stories and recipes for food education, with a spotlight on local and sustainable eating and cooking. Having always been involved with food, the two ladies met just last year, and now they are working hand in hand to produce something special.
Last February, Lauren was toying with the idea of retiring. She met with Amy to ask how she could volunteer with the “Farm to Family Market.” While they did get a chance to talk, nothing much came of it. A few months later, Amy started looking into taking a regular 9 to 5. She’d been running her own media company for a long time, and she was looking for something new. Here’s where the magic happened. As Amy was sitting down for interviews, she began to realize that an office job wasn’t what she wanted. Despite the security of working for an established company, she wasn’t ready to give up her freedom. She wanted something that would “pull her in the right direction,” and a creative one too.
Then Amy thought of Edible magazines, a national network of gorgeous food magazines. After some consideration, Amy decided that what we needed was an Edible right here in North Florida. So Amy got in touch with Lauren, who she knew would want to be involved in the hands-on project. Lauren was ready to be on board. Having seen the two in action, I can say that they work well as a team, and both of them are on the same page when it comes to their love of food culture, history, and education.
While it’s difficult for me to pinpoint where my love of food started, we like to ask the hard-hitting questions at Somewhere in the City. When I asked, Lauren said baking was her first love. Apparently, she is a master brownie maker, which means we are instant best friends. When I asked if they were from scratch, she said, “Of course. They are the best!”
Amy’s food affair started early, but she didn’t realize it for a long time. Both sides of her family were farmers, so they instilled a love of good, fresh food from the start. And like many who love food, it was always a constant for her. It didn’t matter what stage her career was in, or where she was in the world—food was (and is) something that she has always enjoyed.
Amy emphasized that for both of them it is “important to put out a publication that people find engaging and interesting.” Lauren followed up by saying it’s a “work in progress, one that fortunately, or unfortunately, we get to restart every two months.” I can tell they are secretly looking forward to this recreation process, because it means they’ll have a chance to adapt as they discover what the readers need and want.
I asked what Lauren and Amy are trying to accomplish with their Edible magazine, and they both feel that it’s important to try and reach people who grew up on boxed mac n’ cheese and freezer-singed fish sticks. While the ladies know there is nothing wrong with enjoying comfort foods, they look to broaden every reader’s horizon. “We don’t want to create an exclusive publication” Amy said. One of the ways they hope to reach every reader is by providing recipes that take little time, or don’t have a long list of unheard of specialty ingredients.
When I asked about the process of becoming part of the national Edible brand, Amy said it’s simply amazing. They are now a part of a team of people around the nation working to produce their own Edible magazine. It’s a whole support network, and they can, according to Amy, call each other up and chat about anything from hyper-local food trends to challenges to setting up their first issue.
Because the Edible community is widespread, but so close-knit, the network brings new ideas right to our front door! Amy describes it as becoming a part of a community that’s not “competing, but contributing.”
Like its national counterparts, Edible will be published every two months and is free to all. You can pick up your free copy of Edible’s first issue around town at some of our favorite restaurants and vendors. Find a location near you!