Joshua Ozersky
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Joshua Ozersky (August 22, 1967 – May 4, 2015) was an American food writer and historian. He first came to prominence as a founding editor of ''
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'' magazine's food blog, ''Grub Street'', for which he received a
James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...
(with co-editor Daniel Maurer) in 2008. He was the author of several books, including ''The Hamburger: A History'' (2008 ), ''Colonel Sanders and the American Dream'' (2003 ) and ''Archie Bunker's America: TV in an Era of Change, 1968–1978'' (March 2003 ). He was Editor-at-Large for ''Esquire'', writing about food and restaurants. He also wrote frequently for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Food & Wine'', and ''The New York Observer'', among other places. Although read primarily as a food writer, he has said in numerous public appearances that he disliked "food writing" as such, and that his strongest influences were
G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...
,
Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 184 ...
and
A. J. Liebling Abbott Joseph Liebling (October 18, 1904 – December 28, 1963) was an American journalist who was closely associated with ''The New Yorker'' from 1935 until his death. He was known for, among other things, the aphorism "Freedom of the press bel ...
.


Early life and background

Ozersky was born in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in 1967. He moved to
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
in 1979 when his father, the painter David Ozersky, got a job as a stage technician in the first of the area's casino-hotels,
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. He attended
Atlantic City High School Atlantic City High School (ACHS) is a comprehensive public high school in Atlantic City, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. It is the lone secondary school of the Atlantic City School District. The current school building opened i ...
and
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
. His mother, Anita Ozersky, died suddenly when he was 14 years of age. Of his interest in food, he has said in interviews, "I was a friendless child, and a solitary and celibate teenager ... my father and I only spoke about movies and food, and food far more than movies. He was a great gastronome and taught me to self-medicate my loneliness with steaks and sausages." He later attended
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
's School of Journalism and started work towards a doctoral degree at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
, where he eventually received a master's degree in American history.


Career

After graduating from
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
in 1989, Ozersky wrote for several publications on media and cultural history topics, most frequently in '' Tikkun''. The first articles he was paid to write appeared in a short-lived satirical weekly called "The Hoboken Review," based in Hoboken, NJ, where Ozersky lived at the time. Among his earliest works for The Hoboken Review was an article titled, "I like it greasy," in which he celebrates his disdain for overly-health-conscious eating—a recurring theme in his future food writing. From 1990 to 1993 he wrote two weekly columns for the ''West Side Spirit'', a free weekly newspaper in New York City: a semi-humorous "TV Picks" column and a cheap-eats column called "The Impoverished Gourmand" under the name "Casper Gutman." Many consider this guise, which was loosely based on the character from '' The Maltese Falcon'', as a forerunner of "Mr. Cutlets," his later fictive persona. In the mid-1990s, he wrote for
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under the name "The Boob", as well as for ''
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'', where he frequently contributed essays on culture and media. His book "Archie Bunker's America: TV in an Era of Change" (2003 ), a cultural history of television programming, received a disappointing critical reception. Although his ambition at this time was to establish himself as a public intellectual after the example of his mentors,
Neil Postman Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 – October 5, 2003) was an American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who eschewed digital technology, including personal computers, mobile devices, and cruise control in cars, and was critical of ...
and
Mark Crispin Miller Mark Crispin Miller (born 1949) is a professor of media studies at New York University. He has promoted conspiracy theories about U.S. presidential elections, the September 11 attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as misinf ...
, he eventually turned to food writing full-time with the publication of his 2003 book "Meat Me in Manhattan" (). 2008's "The Hamburger: A History" () was a critical success, receiving positive reviews in publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including ''
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'', ''
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'', ''
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'' and ''
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''. Subsequent to "Meat Me in Manhattan"'s publication, Ozersky was a contributing restaurant critic for ''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' (2004–2006), and wrote regularly for the website Slashfood and the ''
New York Law Journal The ''New York Law Journal'', founded in 1888, is a legal periodical covering the legal profession in New York, United States. Background The newspaper, published Monday through Friday, provides daily coverage of civil and criminal cases from ...
''. He became the founding editor of ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
'' food blog ''Grub Street'', a position he held until 2008, when he moved over to
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as National Restaurant Editor. There he ran a daily food blog based on the model of ''Grub Street'' called The Feedbag, along with his regular
Citysearch Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city ...
duties. He left in 2009 to start Ozersky.TV, a venture with Eater founder Ben Leventhal, featuring short films about restaurants and cooking, which debuted in July 2010. He wrote the "Taste of America" column for ''
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'' from 2010 to 2012. Both Ozersky TV, "Taste of America," and his work in ''The Wall Street Journal'' was nominated for James Beard Awards. Essays by Ozersky were also included in "The Best Food Writing" anthologies of 2009, 2012 and 2014. In 2010, Ozersky was criticized by
Robert Sietsema Robert Sietsema is an American restaurant critic. He wrote reviews and articles for the ''Village Voice'' from 1993 to 2013. He has also contributed to ''Gourmet'' magazine. After being let go from the ''Voice'' in a round of downsizing, he was hi ...
for writing about his wedding in ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' without disclosing that the chefs who participated donated the food as wedding gifts. Ozersky defended himself, saying that the chefs involved were among his closest friends, and that the most prominent of them, Michael White, had his daughter in the wedding party as a flower girl.


Death

Ozersky was found and pronounced dead in his Conrad Chicago hotel room on May 4, 2015, while in the city for the James Beard Foundation Awards. Officials said the autopsy reveals he died after suffering a seizure in the hotel shower and drowned."Food writer dies: Josh Ozersky had 'vulnerability and boisterous excess'", Rosemary Regina Sobol, Greg Trotter and Kevin Pang, 5 May 2015
Chicago Tribune
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Meatopia

Ozersky was the founder of Meatopia, a large meat-centric outdoor culinary event, which has been held in New York City for the past ten years. In 2013 Meatopia events were held in London, England and
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, with more cities planned for 2014. Meatopia held a very small event in 2013 in New York City while focusing the majority of its efforts on the London and Texas events. Each year has had a different theme such as "Slaughter of the Innocent" (baby animals); "Lamb Bam Thank You M'aam" (whole lambs); "City Meat," (NYC 2012) in which the festival was divided up into multiple "neighborhoods" such as Offalwood, Carcass Hill, and Beaktown; and most recently (NYC 2014) The Carnivore's Ball, a celebration of the 10th annual Meatopia which was hosted by Michael Symon. Meatopia has been called "a glorious city of meat" by ''
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'' and "a bacchanal of pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, turkey and quail" by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.


Bibliography

* ''Colonel Sanders and the American Dream'' May 2013 () * ''The Hamburger: A History'' May 2009 () * ''Meat Me in Manhattan: A Carnivore's Guide to New York'' October 2003 () * ''Zagat Long Island Restaurants 2005–06'' May 2005 () * ''Readings for the 21st Century: Tomorrow's Issue for Today's Students / Edition 3'' August 1996 () * ''Aquarius Super Day-by-Day Horoscope'' 1990 * ''Archie Bunker's America: TV in an Era of Change 1968–1978'' March 2003 ()


Footnotes


External links

*
Meatopia.org


{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozersky, Joshua 1967 births 2015 deaths American food writers Atlantic City High School alumni Writers from Miami Writers from Atlantic City, New Jersey Writers from New York City Rutgers University alumni American restaurant critics 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers New York University alumni 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers