Macon, Georgia, here we come!

The Food Section is always on the move. Moving along; moving up; maybe, on a good day, even moving the needle for food journalism.

This time, though, we’re moving in the most literal way. The Food Section is relocating its headquarters to Macon, Georgia.

Because I spend much of each month on the road, and because our correspondents are based across the region, our change of address should make approximately zero difference to readers. But I wanted to share this news with you for two reasons. First, I can’t square our commitment to transparency with covertly crossing state lines. Second, while the move won’t have any editorial consequences, it has business implications.

As you well know, I am forever asking for your subscription dollars, since publications can’t function unless they bring in money. But another route to financial health involves reducing expenses. (The best businesses do both, which is why the subscription solicitations aren’t about to stop. See?)

One of my top expenses is living on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina. Statistics on this score vary tremendously, but most sources agree the cost of living here is about 10 percent more than the national average. Trustworthy data shows median rent has surged 30 percent over the last five years.

While I’m lucky that my husband and I own our home in North Charleston, I’m reminded of the local economic situation whenever I go out to dinner or order a drink.

Honestly, though, I don’t do either of those things too much these days. Affordability aside, greater Charleston’s population has shot up 21 percent over the last decade, with 42 people moving here every day. Yet the city’s infrastructure is essentially the same as it was in 2014, so life here feels like a ceaseless cycle of waiting in traffic to be amid strangers.

“What even is this place now?” howled an acquaintance who upon learning I was moving, confessed he was doing the same. Or, as a rideshare driver who grew up in North Charleston and heartily approved of my plan, put it, “This place is ruined.”

All of which is to say, I don’t want to imply I’m martyring myself by cutting costs. This is a great example of personal well-being and financial considerations lining up perfectly.

So, why Macon? Initially, I harbored fantasies of conducting a competition for TFS HQ, which seemed like a good gambit for Amazon: Imagine cities renaming bus stops and adjusting their topiary to woo our newsletter! But when I thought about places I might like to see in the running, I always thought of Macon, which—from a corporate perspective—is at the geographical center of our coverage region and ridiculously cheap. The average Macon home sells for $170,732, compared to $367,969 nationally.

Additionally, I’m looking forward to using my first months in the area to assemble The Food Section’s first gift box, consisting exclusively of culinary items that no algorithm will ever find for you. Sign up to be the first alerted when our Middle Georgia Tasting Notes collection is available for purchase!

Finally, I should note that some readers of this newsletter are going to be most surprised to find out I haven’t left Charleston already. On the few occasions that I do end up at a local bar or restaurant, I’m invariably asked where I’m living nowadays. My theory is I was always a persona, not a person, to eaters who knew me as The Post and Courier’s restaurant reviewer, which makes a post-tenure existence kind of hard to fathom.