Update from Stephen on All the Whetstone Things
A new venture, a new podcast, and PRESS!
Hello Whetstone friends and kinfolk!
It’s Stephen. I hope everything is beautiful for you all. There are a few overdue updates from our side, so please read on if you want to know what's happening in Whetstone Land!
Whetstone Magazine Earlier this year, we published and shipped the 11th volume of our flagship magazine. It’s an extraordinary issue, one of our best ever, and there are just 25 copies or so remaining. We are indeed working on the next and will have more on that soon. Get it while you can!
Whetstone Radio Collective We spent last year making lots of podcasts, growing our ambitions and network to a slate of more than 100 scripted episodes! We are very proud of this archive and you can listen anytime by entering “Whetstone” into the search bar of wherever you listen to your shows.
We’ve scaled back our output this year, for lots of reasons, from constrained budgets to new ventures, to the fact that it was just a lot of shows! Nonetheless, it continues as a rich archive that I encourage you to spend some time with. The good news is, we are still podcasting, but the bad news is, you’re stuck with me! More on my namesake show at the end.
Say Hello to HONE!
About that new venture. At the tail end of last year, I was on stage at the NYT Food Festival with my friend Priya Krishna when I first teased that Whetstone would be moving into (a then TBD) talent venture, which we now call HONE. Nine months down the line and four months into business, I’m pleased to report, HONE has been jumpin!
What is HONE? It’s a culinary talent agency and management company. That means we have the distinct privilege of managing sixteen diverse and dynamic culinarians from writers to somms to farmers. HONE has been a revelation—the perfect blend of invigorating, challenging and rewarding.
If it seems a leap far afield or out of left field, I can see why you would think that. But over the last few years, as Whetstone has moved from magazines to podcasts to tv, and almost everything in between, media has been evolving into a space where individual creators, through sharing their craft, have inadvertently or otherwise, become their own media organizations. At least. That’s almost always in addition to their other main thing.
The HONE Team! Check out www.hone-talent.com to learn more.
The move towards individuals broadcasting themselves to global audiences as a path to making a living is an incredible thing. It’s also unearthed some healthy existential inquiries about our place in the world. When we started it was still novel to report on global food culture. Now that can happen on site, unedited, unencumbered in real time, from the people who know most about the cultures they report on. People are sharing their own stories and we love to see it! This is the world we always wanted to live in, and the one we have advocated for since our inception.
HONE is the embodiment of the changes we’ve observed over the last six years. It’s what is needed and what our position in food media has afforded us. Now we’re bringing those lessons and connections to some of the most promising among us. Creators need leverage and we are here to help. It has been unbelievably gratifying to work on their behalf and we’re excited to continue to share more of this work and talent. If you’re a brand wondering what HONE can do for you, I hope you won’t hesitate to reach out! hello@hone-talent.com
Please follow @honetalent if you’re on IG, and soon, we’ll have a newsletter on here, about what’s happening over there.
Then there’s the aforementioned and self-indulgently titled, Stephen Satterfield Show. My new podcast launched earlier in the spring and we just wrapped season 1, ten episodes. I’d love for you to give a listen, and if you’d like, a wonderful review!
Speaking of me, still, it has been a BIG few months of press for yours truly! In late May, I was the subject of a loooong New Yorker profile by Dorothy Wickenden. Although I’ve been in the news a bunch, it’s always been about my work. In this instance, I shared a few intimate details of my personal life, so for those of you who’ve always wanted to know more about the human behind Whetstone and how it came to be, feel free to read!
And finally, last week I was named One of the Most Creative People in Business by FastCompany Magazine. What an honor! The article, written by Yannise Jean, is a succinct and generous depiction on our road to launching HONE. Please enjoy!
All of this has been made possible by those of you reading this. It’s hard to say that and not sound trite, but it must be said! THANK YOU!
We will soon be migrating Whetstone Media’s email list over to Substack, so please do let us know if you’d like to opt out of that journey. As always, more soon, and thank you for making Whetstone possible.
With gratitude,
Stephen
Whetstone Volume 11 - 25 copies remaining!
In this issue we learn about decolonizing Korean food, how the idea of Balkan cuisine brings up questions around what a nation is and who is considered ‘other’, Filipino silog, in Oaxaca the ceremonial soup that sustains a culture, a photo-essay through Tehran shot prior to the recent protests, the history and power of herbal abortifacients, akara or acarajé in Brazil and West African as a ticket to freedom, the history of radicchio and on Christmas Island eating rendang for Eid.
Only a few copies of this beautiful volume are still available in print.
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Stephen, this update was rich with so much momentum and heart—thank you for pulling back the curtain. The shift toward HONE feels like such an intuitive evolution, not a departure, but an expansion of everything Whetstone has always stood for: cultural nuance, creator empowerment, and storytelling with soul. Honored to follow along and witness the journey. Here’s to more steady growth, quiet revolutions, and delicious ideas. 🌱🔥
So, is my beloved WHETSTONE over?