Ozersky, Josh

Joshua Ozersky (August 22, 1967 – May 4, 2015) was an American food writer and historian. He first came to prominence as a founding editor of New York magazine's food blog, Grub Street, for which he received a James Beard Foundation Award (with co-editor Daniel Maurer) in 2008. He was the author of several books, including The Hamburger: A History (2008 ISBN 0-300-11758-2), Colonel Sanders and the American Dream (2003 ISBN 0292723822) and Archie Bunker's America: TV in an Era of Change, 1968–1978 (March 2003 ISBN 0-8093-2507-1). He was Editor-at-Large for Esquire, writing about food and restaurants. He also wrote frequently for The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, and The New York Observer, among other places. Although read primarily as a food writer, he has said in numerous public appearances that he disliked "food writing" as such, and that his strongest influences were G. K. Chesterton, Thomas Babington Macaulay and A. J. Liebling.