Judy Creighton interviewing Bob Blumer, surreal chef.
The other day, Judy Creighton’s friends gave her a roast to celebrate her more than three decades of food writing. It was lots of fun, lots of newsroom jokes – Judy’s worked at Canadian Press for most of her professional life, marvelous anecdotes about Judy the insoucient outlier, someone who never marched to anyone else’s drummer.
As I walked home I suddenly realized that in all the laughter, nobody had summarized Judy’s particular achievement. Why – she’s done more than any other writer in Canada to raise our consciousness and appreciation about food and cooking. She’s used her national profile to spread the word cross country about the latest trends, the newest personalities, cookbooks,food writers, not just from Canada but from all over the world.
To read Judy is to understand what’s been happening to food and our perception of it in the past tumultuous decades.
An exceptional journalist is one who doggedly puts together the details then fits them into the big picture, one who illuminates the subject, stretches its dimensions, maintains a sense of balance, of fairness, most of all makes the information accessible. Judy’s doing that without ever losing her sense of humour.
More than that. She’s generous. A big heart. All writers are prickly with competition. Compliments to others don’t come easily. But Judy is quick to praise and support. When I started writing restaurant reviews in the ’90s, I knew I was working on the dark side, so blow me down when, as I stood waiting at an elevator bank, I was given a shout out by Judy – whom I then didn’t know. It took me a while to realize that she was sincere – as she is sincere about everything.
