Ashlie D. Stevens

Ashlie D. Stevens is the senior food editor at Salon, where she covers food, culture and subculture, with a focus on how we nourish ourselves and one another. She is an award-winning radio producer, editor and features writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic’s “The Plate,” Eater, VICE, Slate, The Bitter Southerner and Chicago Magazine, with audio broadcast on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Here & Now,” as well as APM’s “Marketplace.”

She is the creator of Salon’s weekly newsletter “The Bite,” an exploration of how food connects us to our communities and ourselves. Each issue features original recipes she develops and hand-illustrates, alongside essays that blend reporting, cultural analysis and personal narrative.

Before joining Salon, she produced award-winning audio documentaries in public radio, earning honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Kentucky Associated Press and the National Association of Broadcasters. Her work has been recognized with multiple awards for reporting, podcasting and sound design, and in 2025 she was named Second Place, Best Food/Culture Critic at the National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards. She is also a certified Level 1 cheesemonger through the Academy of Cheese.

Outside of Salon, she is a co-founder of Supraphonic, an independent audio studio, where she produces narrative-driven documentary work. Her projects include “This Is Chicago,” an award-winning series of narrative shorts, as well as ongoing reporting focused on place, identity and subculture.

Her work has reached audiences in unexpected ways — appearing as clues on “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!,” referenced in late-night television and assigned in college classrooms. Across mediums, her reporting is guided by a belief that the most meaningful stories are often found in ordinary lives, and that curiosity, craft and a touch of irreverence can bring those stories into sharper focus.

She is based in Chicago with her partner and their wire-haired dachshund, Otto. When she’s not at her desk, she’s usually somewhere near Lake Michigan.