Lucy Burningham Oral History Interview

Lucy Burningham is an author who writes about food and drink, travel, and various other topics. In her interview, Burningham talks about growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah; how her interest in food and beverage writing grew; and how travel influenced her personal and professional life. She also talks about her early college experience at Boston College, the University of Montana (BA, English Language and Literature), and Portland State University (MA, Creative Non-fiction).

Burningham shares stories about her early jobs in writing, including working at two magazine in Salt Lake City and writing for various publications as a freelancer (New York Times, Mens Journal, Saveur, Sunset, Lonely Planet). Burningham discusses about how she moved towards beer writing, starting with her first article in Beer Northwest/Beer West magazine through longer publication projects like Hop in the Saddle and the Feminist Guide to Beer Drinking. In the end of the interview, Burningham talks about her 2016 book My Beer Year, a book that chronicles her journey to obtaining a Cicerone certification. Throughout the interview, Burningham reflects on how the brewing industry has evolved since she moved to Portland in 2005, how studying for the Cicerone exam changed her relationship with beer, how gender has impacted her experiences as a beer drinker and author.