Ashok Selvam on Ravenous and the Food Media Renaissance
About six weeks after winning the James Beard Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award, Ashok Selvam was laid off from Eater Chicago. He had been there for over a decade. He was the only full-time staff member. His fingerprints were on every single story, every headline, every post. And then his supervisor sent a message asking him to check his email.
What happened next is one of the most genuinely exciting food media stories of the past year.
Ashok Selvam is a co-founder of Ravenous, a worker-owned independent food and culture publication that launched May 1st, 2026, built by five journalists who…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.