Gail Ciampa of The Providence Journal joined this week’s episode of “Behind the Story” to discuss covering Rhode Island’s vibrant food scene.
Gail Ciampa, who covers food and dining, has spent years reporting on the restaurant industry, becoming one of the state’s most prominent voices on culinary news.
But that’s not how her career at the newspaper began.
“The day I arrived I was a fashion editor, of all things, which was one of my least favorite jobs,” she said, explaining that things changed after a conversation with the food editor.
“She said, ‘You’re Italian, you must love food, and you’re going to be one of my restaurant reviewers,'” Ciampa recalled. “I always filled in for her, and when she retired, I applied for the job. It’s been the job of a lifetime.”
Ciampa also discussed her recent reporting on the retirement of a public official who played an outsized role in Rhode Island agriculture. She reflected on the challenges restaurateurs have faced since the COVID-19 pandemic and explained how she decides which stories to pursue.
This week, Ciampa wrote about the surprising feedback she received from a reader in another state after publishing a story on presidential wines. (Spoiler: George Washington’s favorite was Madeira.)
“She saw the story and was thrilled with the idea of serving Madeira,” Ciampa said. “She called me the ‘instigator of her party,’ and she said she had to tell me about it.”
Later in the show, Kim and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:
“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of The Boston Globe.