• by Melynda Fuller , February 7, 2019

Seven years after it was folded into the Saturday section of the paper, the Los Angeles Times’ food coverage will again be a standalone section. The section will launch in April and run on Thursdays, covering everything from dining to cooking to drinking and entertaining, the paper reports.

The Food section was launched in 1962, when it also ran on Thursdays.

The news was announced at the paper’s preview of its annual festival of events, called Food Bowl, earlier this week.

The standalone section will also gather the best of the sections digital daily coverage.

Kimi Yoshino, senior deputy managing editor, stated: “In bringing back the Food section on Thursdays, our hope is that we’ll help readers get the most out of the produce they buy, the meals they prepare at home and their explorations of the rich variety of dining experiences throughout the region.”

Food editor Peter Meehan, who was a cofounder-former editor at the now-shuttered Lucky Peach. He will lead the section, overseeing its editorial direction across print and digital, several video series, events and newsletters.

Joining the section are two new staffers, Genevieve Ko and Ben Mims, both take up their positions this month.

Ko, a cookbook author, has contributed to outlets like NYT Cooking and BonAppetit; she is the section’s new cooking editor. Mims will pen a new cooking column for the section. He previously worked at Saveur and Food & Wine and directed the test kitchen for Lucky Peach.

The section has also added two new restaurant critics, Bill Addison and Patricia Escárcega, and hired former BuzzFeed video guru Rachel Schnalzer.

LA Times’ reporter and editor Andrea Chang has been promoted to deputy Food editor.