Anyone who likes to eat and likes to write might be tempted to envy Kevin Shalin, author of The Mighty Rib food blog. You’re thinking, “What a life! Getting paid to visit restaurants and write about them!”
Surrender that fantasy. Shalin, of Little Rock, has what is essentially a full-time job as a food blogger, but, he says, he’s not paid a dime, nor does he accept free meals. And therein lies his influence: Unlike many if not most dining influencers on social media, Shalin can offer his opinions with no strings attached.
“My goal from day one was to never monetize it in any way. I wanted to keep it as pure as possible,” he said. “Even when I would accept paid freelance gigs for other publications, I’ve always kept my blog separate. It’s never been monetized in any way, which is, especially in today’s landscape, almost nonexistent.”
And he is influential, with 70,000 followers on Facebook, where his blog resides. It’s a following that Shalin said is all organic; he has never paid to promote The Mighty Rib. (He also maintains a website, though, he says, he rarely updates it.)
Shalin’s wife is Dr. Sara Shalin, chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and her income as a physician has allowed him to write his blog without remuneration.
Shalin, born and raised in Houston, Texas, was a public high school teacher when he started his blog in 2010 as a hobby. He’d been a sports writer in college, and the blog was a way for him to start writing again. He comes from a writing family, Shalin said. His late uncle, Mike Shalin, was a sportswriter who covered the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox for the New York Daily News and the Boston Herald.
“I didn’t know anything about food other than I just liked to eat,” he said. “To this day, I don’t fashion myself as any sort of food connoisseur or expert.”
After about six months of writing his blog, Shalin was offered a paid freelance job by the Houston Press, but continued to maintain The Mighty Rib. He and his wife then moved to Boston so she could receive further training.
A year later, Sara Shalin was hired by UAMS, and “I kind of came kicking and screaming,” Kevin Shalin said. “I did not want to live in Arkansas.” Familiar with big cities, he thought his food writing days were over. “There’s not going to be anything to cover in Little Rock, and I was wrong.”
That was almost 14 years ago. “It’s been a gradual increase in readers and people following,” he said.
Although he wrote freelance for several years after moving to Little Rock, Shalin discontinued that about five or six years ago and decided to devote all his writing energies to The Mighty Rib, “and I’m very fortunate that I can do that.” He also works as a stay-at-home dad to two children, though they’re getting close to leaving the nest.
“I make no income now. But it is a job. I’ve dedicated my life towards it now,” he said. “I want to do more than cover food. I want to build a community.” Toward that end, Shalin has used the blog to advocate for area nonprofits as well as for area businesses and is chair of the Little Rock Food Commission. (Our sister publication Little Rock Soirée focused on the nonprofit aspect of his work in February.)
Shalin said food blogging has changed tremendously since he started. “I’m 48. In this realm, I’m getting pretty old, to be honest with you. And a lot of people who do what I do, they go about it differently. I’m not judging. I understand. I never fault people for taking a different angle than I have.
“When I say that, I mean pay for play, influencers, content creators. That’s not the way I look at myself. Again, I’m not saying that to judge them or speak negatively. But that’s not the way I operate. I pay for everything.”
Shalin added: “I feel like if I am not getting the same experience as every other diner, then I’m not doing anyone any good. I’m not doing the restaurant any good. I’m not doing the people that choose to follow me in a very crowded space, I’m not doing them any good. … I’m fortunate where I can pay my way and I’m happy to do it.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
