Closing Words      11/04/2009  

The Feedbag’s Farewell

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I’m aware that these valedictory posts are becoming a little much. How many farewells to the troops can one general make? And yet, you deserve an explanation, having spent over a year listening to the bon mots of Mr. Snitch, the cloudy pronouncements of Gastrodamus, and of course my own brand of daily food writing and reporting. Now, as I prepare to pull the plug on the Feedbag, it’s only right to tell you why, and what to expect from the bottomless well of overwrought and under-informed prose known  as Josh Ozersky. Here is what I’m doing.

In the new year, I’ll be launching a new site with Eater co-founder (and current NBC.com managing editor)  Ben Leventhal: Ozersky.TV! It  will feature a new video every day: visits to great restaurants, barbecue pits, coffee factories, stun lines, fish markets, taquerias, luaus, smokehouses, and any other places that I find interesting. There will also be at least one cooking demo a week, featuring some of the top chefs in America, and my own running commentary as the self-proclaimed “ultimate insider” in American high and low gastronomy. The site will wed the up-to-the-minute immediacy of Eater with the deep-seated convictions and orotund panegyrics of The Feedbag in a multimedia tour de force!

Of course, that’s not all I’ll be doing. I’m beginning my next book, a study of the life and career of Colonel Sanders; I’ll use my liberation from daily blogging to do what I should have been doing all along, which is writing long-form magazine pieces that stand a chance of outliving me; doing the Mr. Cutlets radio show at Heritage Radio Network every Sunday; writing a column on cooking for Rachael Ray.com; and, in the coming months, debuting a massive standalone project for Citysearch that has occupied much of the time in the past few months, an online portrait portfolio of the most important figures in the New York restaurant world.  And there might be something else in the works as well.

I will also continue to eat well, get around, and generally enjoy being Josh Ozersky. How can I not? As long as there are hamburgers to eat, sentences to compose, and an expansive grandiloquence  that requires expression, I must keep going. But not here, sadly; this happy home must be given up as I move forward. But I’ll always be grateful to Citysearch for their startling generosity in creating a role for me over the past year or so, and bankrolling a blog that contributed hardly anything at all to the bottom line of a very competitive company. It took great courage to bring it into being, and the most strenuous exertions to keep it alive, but now the crypt closes on the entity which, for its brief but happy life, was known to the world as THE FEEDBAG.

Comments

16 Responses to “The Feedbag’s Farewell”

  1. sp on November 4th, 2009 12:42 pm

    The entire site should be bundled up into a downloadable archive with all the links, photos, videos, comments, everything preserved, so that one may relive the feedbag at any time.

  2. Golescu on November 4th, 2009 1:12 pm

    You forgot to add, “I have never been much a favourite of the publick.” Good luck.

  3. butch on November 4th, 2009 3:52 pm

    Hey, does this mean you’re now 60 percent famous?

  4. Pam A on November 4th, 2009 5:13 pm

    bye Josh. Thank you.

  5. Otis Cribblecross on November 4th, 2009 6:51 pm

    Bravo Mr. Cutlets! You’re an athlete of Gastronomical prose, the Feedbag was a tremendous site! Good luck in all that you do and Feedbag Forever, Forever Feedbag!

  6. The Feed file: Ozersky’s last stand; toxic green beans | The Feed Blog | Time Out New York on November 4th, 2009 8:50 pm

    [...] Ozersky officially ties off his Citysearch blog, announcing a partnership with Eater co-founder and NBC rookie Ben Leventhal. [...]

  7. Ben on November 5th, 2009 12:16 am

    Josh

    Even though I’m a Californian, The Feedbag has been by far my favorite and most frequented food publication over the past year. You’ve already made a huge impact on the many of us who read your thoughtful and entertaining critiques, reviews and dissections of the newly mainstream food scene. I look forward to your new endeavors and am honestly not sure what to do until they launch.

    Best of luck,
    Ben

  8. Lee Kowarski on November 5th, 2009 12:26 am

    Best wishes for the new endeavor, Josh. We’ll all miss you here, but I’m excited for the new opportunities!

  9. clarke thomas on November 5th, 2009 11:08 am

    sad end of a great foodie blog. The Feedbag was always in my top 3 for food blogs, & read it daily. Always like the videos as much as the text content. Thanks for a so much great content so far

  10. klaus k on November 5th, 2009 4:46 pm

    finally. you swellhead ;)

  11. Eat Me Daily on November 5th, 2009 5:07 pm

    The Feeedbag will be missed.

  12. Hilary Battes on November 7th, 2009 10:18 pm

    See ya ’round, Josh.

  13. MrsDocChuck on November 11th, 2009 12:30 pm

    My dearest Cutlets,

    My husband (much older than me, should that interest you) and I as well as our manx cat we have named “Mr. Cutlets” (after you) will quite sorely miss The Feedbag.

    Your blog has provided our family with untold hours of amusement and the deep, deep satisfaction thatcan only come from connecting with strangers in such a remote yet intimate way.

    Thank you, Josh. My husband and I wish you the very best.

  14. Well Bocuuuuuuuuse Me! on November 11th, 2009 6:16 pm

    I think your tenure here was merely a tasty forspeiss for the great Cutlets media feast soon to come. i hope you’ll let me tag along on some of your exploits.
    Bocuse Out!

  15. Rob Patronite on November 12th, 2009 2:24 pm

    Top 10 things Josh Ozersky is planning to do next
    10. Grow vegetables on Bushwick rooftop.
    9. Sell s’mores from truck.
    8. Pursue assistant manager position at Bill’s Bar & Burger.
    7. Train for next year’s New York City Marathon with Somali pirate pals.
    6. Devote more time to singing soprano in his barbershop quartet along with Michael White, Mark Pastore, and Sip Sak’s Orhan Yegen.
    5. Finally finish coming-of-age novel: Meat Me in Metuchen.
    4. Play Fonzworth Bentley to Tim Zagat’s P. Diddy.
    3. Found the Josh C. Ozersky Center for Gout Research.
    2. Open a hamburger-themed amusement park in Cincinnati, Ohio.
    1. Eat full-time.

  16. L. Full on November 14th, 2009 4:48 pm

    what’s going to happen to that beautiful correspondent, Laurie Pila Horowitz. She added pizzaz to your blog. We’re going to miss her. Don’t continue your new ventures without her.
    L. Full

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