Yeah, what I'd do is what Quora is doing (or should be doing); find awesome editors/curators per topic. Build referly in a way which lets them build up their own reputation.
For food, I'd get Jonas or Makitoh from Quora; both are authors working on books, so they would love to self promote.
It might be interesting to not go after big categories like "food" or "photography" but crossover like "food photography". I doubt even the world's number one food stylist or food photographer has too much publicity. There are what, 10 big categories? But then there are at least 100 crossovers, and more if they are more than pair wise (travel food photography)
For food, I'd get Jonas or Makitoh from Quora; both are authors working on books, so they would love to self promote.
It might be interesting to not go after big categories like "food" or "photography" but crossover like "food photography". I doubt even the world's number one food stylist or food photographer has too much publicity. There are what, 10 big categories? But then there are at least 100 crossovers, and more if they are more than pair wise (travel food photography)