It’s time to retire after a decade of Southern food and dining adventures
In late spring, I announced I would be retiring. Now that the day has arrived, leaving my job comes with mixed emotions: gratitude, nostalgia and excitement for what comes next.
I am grateful to subscribers like you who have made my work so fulfilling. Interacting with you and making decisions about our food and dining coverage, based on the goal of serving readers, have brought much satisfaction and discovery during my 10-year tenure at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
I’ve loved receiving your emails — and the rare handwritten note tucked inside a stamped envelope. You’ve shared heartfelt responses to stories that resonated with you, requested help with recipes (perhaps clipped from an old newspaper), sent tips about restaurants we should check out and even voiced disagreement with our restaurant reviews. I’ve read them all.
You’ve been patient observers of my quest to Southernize myself, such as trying to get a handle on the Coke and peanuts ritual, learning biscuit-making from Bojangles expert Luis Santos and throwing a porch party. Even though you have blessed my Midwestern-bred heart time and time again, I’m still a work in progress.
You also were with me in spirit on quirky adventures: when I ate bugs at a conference hosted by the University of Georgia’s Department of Entomology, visited the fruitcake capital of Claxton, toured the Lunchbox Museum in Columbus, called the Butterball turkey hotline and endured 27 hours without food in preparation for a colonoscopy.
My favorite part of the job has been interacting in person with the community. Sitting down to a chicken dinner with first responders at DeKalb County Fire Rescue Station No. 1 on Clifton Road remains a highlight, as does competing on a kosher barbecue team, dining with Santa Claus and being the guest of honor at a luncheon arranged by AJC reader Lynn Ford, who introduced me to two women in their 90s who were lifelong friends (and even made sure that my recipe for veggie tortilla pie was on the menu).
Lynn kept me apprised of the health of Olive Toy and Mary Hubert until they passed. Just as I sent sympathy cards to their families, you sent me notes of commiseration when I became an empty-nester, as well as condolences when my mom died.
These are just a few of the memories I will treasure.
A decade since moving to Atlanta, I have developed professional relationships with countless folks in the community. I appreciate the hard work of everyone in the food service industry, as well as the growers and makers who feed us.
The AJC’s coverage of the restaurant scene during the pandemic and recovery period will remain an important chapter of my career. Atlanta’s dining landscape would not look the way it does today without the resiliency, determination and creativity shown during that time by folks ranging from veteran operators to pop-up vendors who since have found permanent homes for their dining concepts. I’m glad to remain involved in this passionate, caring network as a volunteer with local nonprofit Giving Kitchen.
The past few years have seen our coverage expand beyond metro Atlanta. Thanks to Kroger sponsorships, we visited innovative chefs throughout the region who are putting their own stamp on traditional Southern dishes and farms across the state for a yearlong Georgia on My Plate series. Standing in a South Georgia peanut field in 2021 was a personal bucket list item fulfilled. So was reeling in a 5-pounder at a catfish farm in St. Mary’s.
Last year, we published a Savannah dining guide — our first city dining guide outside Atlanta — and we explored diners across the Peach State to bring you the AJC’s first statewide dining guide.
The AJC remains committed to this regional coverage, with monthly dining dispatches from the Georgia coast, as well as recurring features, including Made in Georgia and Georgia Classics, which highlight the state’s food businesses and longtime eateries, respectively.
It takes a team to provide these stories and recipes week after week. The AJC has two other full-time staff members assigned to food and dining content and more than two dozen freelance contributors — writers, editors, photographers — all committed to this work. I am especially indebted to Bill King, a veteran newspaperman who took me under his wing during his time at the AJC and who has continued to edit my copy and that of other food and dining contributors since his retirement in 2017.
The next person who will fill the position of food and dining editor has not been announced. When that happens, I’m sure you will welcome that person just as you did when I stepped into the hard-to-fill shoes of my predecessor, John Kessler.
Now that retirement is kicking in, I’m looking forward to joining your ranks as an AJC reader. I’ll try not to overload dining critic Henri Hollis with review suggestions, inundate reporter Olivia Wakim with ideas for stories about food tours and culinary trends, or pepper C.W. Cameron with restaurant recipe requests for the From the Menu column. That’s easier said than done, because, as we say around here: Once an AJCer, always an AJCer.
About the Author
Ligaya Figueras is the AJC's senior editor for Food & Dining. Prior to joining the AJC in 2015, she was the executive editor for St. Louis-based culinary magazine Sauce. She has worked in the publishing industry since 1999 and holds degrees from St. Louis University and the University of Michigan.
