When you read about restaurants, do you notice how writers create a sense of place, capturing the energy of a room by strategically drawing attention to certain details? These descriptions help readers imagine an environment even though they are not actually there.

As a person who has not gone out to eat for more than a year, writing about restaurants during the pandemic comes with challenges. I’m not just talking about the ideas. The process of putting words together feels especially difficult right now, in part because I’m spending so much time at home instead of experiencing the things I’m writing about. How can I find the language to describe an atmosphere while remaining completely disconnected from it?

These sensory impressions don’t just set the scene, they help readers connect to the story. This is important because stories about restaurants are ultimately stories about people. I’m not here to imply that it should be our responsibility to save the industry. There’s still a part of me, though, that hopes I can arrange my words in a way that will encourage you to show up for independent businesses in your community, whatever that looks like for you. While I recognize that being more intentional in our consumption does not resolve the issues affecting the industry, I believe that having conversations about these choices opens up space to talk about long-term solutions.

In the past year, people have shared a number of pieces about how the pandemic has affected restaurant workers. As I hinted in the title, I’m not an established food writer, so I have been developing my style during this “unprecedented time.” It would feel strange to publish my first piece without sharing some of my thoughts on the moment we’re living through.

My intentions in writing this post were to offer a description of the content I hope to create for this website. In this moment of uncertainty, I don’t want to limit the scope of my work. I want to create opportunities to meet new people and discover new interests. It will take some time before I’m able to tell you about the future of this project, but I’ve heard that you need to start before you feel ready if you want to make things happen.

This website, though a work in progress, is a collection of stories about people who care about food. It’s an effort to connect with folks who are doing great work in my local community. From my perspective, the name “salt and sunset” captures a love of San Francisco and other spots along the coast of California. While letting this be an open-ended project, that’s where I plan to begin.