Jane Nickerson

{{Lead too short|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Jane Nickerson | honorific_suffix = | image = Jane Nickerson.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|05|19}} | birth_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|02|27|1916|05|19}} | death_place = Lakeland, Florida, U.S. | resting_place = | occupation = Food writer, editor, restaurant critic | language = | nationality =  | citizenship =  | education = | alma_mater = Radcliffe College | period = | genre =  | subject = Food, chefs, restaurants | movement = | notable_works = | spouse = Alexander Francis Steinberg (1950-1972) | partner =  | children = 4 | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | signature_type = | years_active = 1942-1988 | module = | website =  | portaldisp =  }}

'''Jane Nickerson''' (May 19, 1916 ''–'' February 27, 2000) was an American food writer, newspaper editor, cookbook editor, and restaurant critic. She created the position of food editor at ''The New York Times'' and was instrumental in the professional development of James Beard and Craig Claiborne. She was influential in the modernization of food journalism.

==Early life and education== Nickerson was born May 19, 1916, in Manhattan.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2000-03-02 |title=Jane Nickerson Steinberg, 83, Food Editor |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/02/nyregion/jane-nickerson-steinberg-83-food-editor.html |access-date=2023-09-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1938.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Voss |first=Kimberly |date=2014-10-01 |title=Dining Out: New York City Culinary Conversation of James Beard, Jane Nickerson, and Cecily Brownstone |url=https://www.academia.edu/5698263 |journal=New York Food Story}}</ref>

== Career == In 1939, Nickerson began working for ''Ladies Home Journal'' as an editorial assistant.<ref name=":2" /> She then worked for ''The Saturday Evening Post'' before moving to ''The New York Times''.<ref name=":1" />

Nickerson was the first food editor and restaurant critic for the ''Times'', filling the role from 1942 to 1957.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kelley |first=Denise O'Toole |date=30 April 2014 |title=When food was on the 'women's pages' |url=https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/2014/04/30/when-food-was-on-the-womens-pages/30719005007/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=Daytona Beach News-Journal |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"">{{Cite news |last=Sifton |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Sifton |date=2021-04-07 |title=The Unsung Influence of a Pioneering Food Journalist |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/magazine/lime-pie-recipe-jane-nickerson.html |access-date=2023-09-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

Among Nickerson's journalistic scoops was the creation of the cheeseburger, which was at the time innovative.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /> She wrote in 1947, "At first, the combination of beef with cheese and tomatoes, which sometimes are used, may seem bizarre...(but) if you reflect a bit, you’ll understand the combination is sound gastronomically".<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /> She coined the phrase "food writer" in 1949.<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" />

Nickerson was unusual at the time for reporting on food trends, new technology, and food science and actively searching out and adapting in-use recipes; most US food editors of the time were primarily publishing recipes submitted to them by commercial food producers.<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /> She was also unusual at the time because nearly all of her work had news value; according to women's page journalism historian Kimberly Wilmot Voss, a professor of journalism at University of Central Florida, of 675 stories published during Nickerson's tenure at the ''Times'' as food editor, 646 had a news hook.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2020-09-16 |title=The History of Food Journalism |url=https://journalism-history.org/2020/09/16/voss-podcast-the-history-of-food-journalism/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=Journalism History journal |language=en}}</ref>

Nickerson left the ''Times'' in 1957 to move to Florida after her husband had been relocated there; she did not resume her career until 1973 when she became food editor for ''The Ledger.''<ref name=":0" /><ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> She published a cookbook, ''Jane Nickerson's Florida Cookbook'', in 1973.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /> She retired in 1988.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" />

== Impact == Food historian Voss said Nickerson had laid the foundation for modern professional food writing.<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /> She wrote that while Claiborne has been credited with modernizing the profession, Nickerson had started down that path years before he was hired as her replacement.<ref name=":2" /> Voss also wrote that the social and professional relationships Beard had with Nickerson and Cecily Brownstone, whom Nickerson had introduced to Beard, were directly responsible for Beard's entry into and acceptance by New York's food culture.<ref name=":2" /> In 1945 Nickerson was one of the first food writers to interview and write about Beard.<ref name=":2" /> According to Voss, Nickerson "discovered" both Claiborne and Beard.<ref name=":3" />

According to food historian Anne Mendelson, Nickerson was responsible for the prestige and national coverage of the ''Times''’ food writing at the time Claiborne inherited the position.<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" />

According to ''The New York Times Magazine'', Nickerson "made Craig Claiborne possible".<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /> Nickerson created or collected; adapted; and edited, uncredited, many of the recipes in Claiborne's 1961 ''The New York Times Cookbook''.<ref name="siftonNYT8apr2021"" /><ref name=":3" />

The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' called her "the most important food writer you've never heard of".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neman |first=Daniel |date=2021-04-27 |title=Neman: The most important food writer you've never heard of |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/neman-the-most-important-food-writer-youve-never-heard-of/article_f5a0c7e3-a430-527f-b227-d4b7e47381cb.html |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=STLtoday |language=en}}</ref>

Food writer Molly O'Neill called Nickerson one of the first food journalists to apply ethical standards in her work, and wrote that her work, unlike that of most food writers of the time, was centered around the news value of the story.<ref name=":2" />

Beard wrote Nickerson had "done more for dignified food coverage than anyone".<ref name=":2" />

''The Washington Post'' wrote that Nickerson "helped bring sober-minded reporting on food and food trends to a national audience".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Brian |date=2023-04-08 |title=Mimi Sheraton, influential food writer and reviewer, dies at 97 |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/04/06/mimi-sheraton-food-times-dies/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==Personal life== Nickerson married Alexander Francis Steinberg in 1950; the couple had four children.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> They divorced in 1972.

==Death== Nickerson died February 27, 2000, in Lakeland, Florida.<ref name=":1" /> She was 83.<ref name=":0" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickerson, Jane}} Category:1916 births Category:2000 deaths Category:American cookbook writers Category:American food writers Category:American newspaper editors Category:American restaurant critics Category:Writers from Manhattan Category:Radcliffe College alumni Category:American women food writers Category:American women newspaper editors Category:American women's page journalists

Jane Nickerson

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