Publication: Serviette
Topic(s): Food, vice, culture, drugs & edibles, illegal food markets, chef profiles, food history, food science
Rate: $1 per word (USD)
Deadline: 7 January 2026
Name of Editor: Not specified
Submit Via: Email pitch to hello@serviettemag.com

Serviette Magazine is open to pitches for Issue 08, themed “Food Is Vice.” This is a high-paying international opportunity for freelance food writers, journalists, essayists, photographers, and visual storytellers interested in the darker, indulgent, and controversial sides of food culture.

Serviette publishes ambitious, idea-driven stories exploring where food comes from, how it is grown and transformed, and how deeply it intersects with culture, science, history, and everyday life. For this issue, they want bold, mischievous, and unconventional angles that frame food as indulgence, excess, addiction, rebellion, or taboo.

Writers are encouraged to think expansively. Strong pitch ideas may include investigations into digestible drugs (from wild mushrooms to legal edibles), reporting on illegal or underground food markets, critiques of substitute sugars and ultra-processed foods, or profiles of chefs, researchers, or food technologists working on ethically or culturally “sinful” projects.

More narrative-driven or cultural essays are also welcome. This could mean food at strip clubs, smoking cultures tied to dining spaces, indulgent restaurant subcultures, or how tech-driven food products shaped modern consumption habits. Serviette is open to sharp reporting, strong personal voice, and visually rich storytelling.

Accepted formats include reported features, profiles, personal essays, Q&As, infographics, photo essays, and comics. If commissioned, Serviette pays $1 per word, making this one of the best-paying food writing opportunities available to freelance writers globally, including writers in Kenya seeking international bylines.

What They’re Looking For:

• Original, well-researched pitch ideas
• Clear relevance to the “Food Is Vice” theme
• Strong narrative angle or investigative depth
• Writers with authority, curiosity, and cultural insight