'300 Sandwiches' Blogger Stephanie Smith Signs Book Deal Despite Anti-Feminist Criticism
Stephanie Smith's 300 sandwiches blog invited criticism from various quarters of the press in September for being anti-feminist, but it seems like she is laughing all the way to the bank since she just signed a book deal based on her writings.
Zinc Ink, Random House's new imprint, will be publishing the book. Zinc. head David Zinczenko spoke to the New York Post about signing the deal with Smith. He said that Smith was a friend and he had known her well before she embarked on the 300 Sandwiches project.
"When she told us about her romantic, passionate, and very funny quest to make her boyfriend 300 sandwiches, our first reaction was, "That's a book," he said.
Smith, who is a senior reporter at the New York Post, wrote about her plight -- which she seems to have embraced without any resistance -- of committing to make 300 sandwiches to get engaged to her boyfriend. Smith's boyfriend, Eric, who is a computer programmer and a gourmet cook, jokingly suggested if she were to make him 300 sandwiches, she'd earn an engagement ring.
In a piece about the blog, Smith talked about how Eric would demand she make him a sandwich when he woke up in the morning and also said that the meal was symbolic of her love for him.
Smith wrote the piece for the Post after she was done making 166 sandwiches, with 124 to go. She was documenting the exercise of whipping up elaborate gastro-delights for her boyfriend on her blog.
In an interview with TODAY on Sept. 26, the duo asked critics to lighten up and reiterated that they shared a healthy relationship.
"If he wasn't the kind of guy that was worth one sandwich, I wouldn't be making 300 sandwiches," she said. "And plus it was a joke. It was light, it's funny. Come on, it's a sandwich. It's supposed to be just lighthearted."
When asked by the show's co-hosts if Schulte would actually marry her, he suggested that her completing the challenge was unnecessary.
"Oh of course," he said. "I would have married her without one sandwich."
