Like many enterprising editors, Satterfield launched a crowdfunding campaign in 2017 to raise $50,000 for the magazine. He still remembers how much potential backers promised: $17,000. Because he hadn’t raised the full amount, in fact, Kickstarter wouldn’t allow him to keep any of the money that supporters had offered to donate.
What shows why Stephen Satterfield is well on his way to becoming one of the most powerful media figures in food is that he never gave up. Starting in 2017, he put out new issues ofWhetstonewhenever funding permitted, highlighting stories about South Korean dried fish, Mexican chocolate and home cooking in Kyrgyzstan. He also createdshort films, such as one about wine in the Republic of Georgia, and produceda podcast with iHeart Radio.
Then, last year, Satterfield’s vision finally blossomed. And we’re not talking one bloom, but many.
“We have never changed our messaging,” he says. “We came out of the gate, [saying] this is the point of view of the magazine, and we’ve been loyal to that point of view. Luckily for us, the world and the culture has shifted in a direction that is more aligned.”
Whetstone, and Satterfield’s encompassing vision, emerged out of a series of formative experiences in food. As a young man, he attended culinary school in Portland, Oregon, where he fell in love with wine and became a sommelier instead of a chef. He was often the only Black sommelier in the room, and so he traveled to South Africa to meet African winegrowers—and found many who were living hand-to-mouth on what had been their ancestral lands, working for white-owned companies. “It really opened my eyes about a universal story about anti-Black racism and the harmful, lingering impacts of colonization,” he says. Once he moved to San Francisco and worked as a manager and sommelier at the popular farm-to-table restaurant Nopa, he started a Tumblr blog to tell the stories of the restaurant’s relationships with farmers and the broader community. It was the genesis of his mission for Whetstone.
As the editor, writer and media executive’s star has risen, Satterfield has consistently called for food media to recognize that who tells the story matters. Who owns the media company matters, too—when it comes to fostering talent and empowering journalists to dive deeper. “Stephen is interested in lifting other people up and using his platform to bring to life the voices of so many individuals. It’s not just about him,” says Naomi Starkman, founder and editor of Civil Eats, another independent media company (Satterfield was a storytelling fellow at Civil Eats in 2016). “He’s trying to create a space for different ideas and different voices.”
“We can actually talk about food in a way that understands that crops built empires,” Satterfield says. “That in the United States, plantation agriculture and racialized capitalism [innovated] sugarcane and cotton. This isn’t how we talk about food, and that’s a shame. But that’s also an opportunity. That’s really what our work is about: making those connections for people.”
With the first round of major funding secured, Satterfield is figuring out where Whetstone can grow next. After years of living around the United States and Mexico, he has settled in Atlanta.High on the Hoghas started filming its second season. Now he wants to find opportunities for the talented writers, podcasters and filmmakers who have helped Whetstone Media blossom, most of whom are women and people of color. “I now know I can bootstrap a company that I own,” he says. “Now I want to know: Can I grow a business?”
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!Tell us why!OtherSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Tell us why!OtherSubmit
Tell us why!
