Holy cannoli, has it been fun.

Food editor Jane Snow is leaving the Akron Beacon Journal, but she isn't hanging up her apron just yet. Jane will continue to write her BJ e-mail newsletter, Second Helpings, and there will be an open house with Jane next month when she will introduce the new food editor.

Jane wrote the longest goodbye yet for the front of the Premier (E1) section. It was 37 graphs, 95 sentences and 1,514 words.

Here’s the lead:

The year was 1978. I had never eaten a sauerkraut ball. I had never heard of Strickland's Frozen Custard. I had never dined in my car at Swenson's. I was young and svelte. All of that was about to change.

In the ensuing years, Akron literally would seep into my bones and pile up on my hips as I earned my daily bread by eating it, first as food critic and then food editor of the Beacon Journal.

I gained (and later lost) 100 pounds, and it has been delicious. But now it's time to say goodbye. After 28 years at the Beacon Journal (25 of them writing about food), I'm resigning to write cookbooks and dabble in other food adventures. But holy cannoli, has it been fun.

What she won't miss:

Writing a 25th how-to-cook-a-turkey story. Wading each week through dozens of press releases (a recent beaut -- ``Finding Holiday Joy in Soymilk.'')

What she will miss:

Everything else. At the top of the list is the friendship and encouragement so many of you have offered. I treasure the kind letters I've received over the years. Two stand out in my mind. An elderly reader, worried that I was working too hard, sent a copy of the food section from her home town in Tennessee and suggested I reprint the whole thing.

``It isn't as good as yours, but use it anyway and take the week off,'' she wrote.

The second was from a reader who began her letter, ``You don't know me, but you're one of my best friends. I have coffee with you every Wednesday morning.''

I can relate. I feel the same way about all of you. Each week when I sat down to write, I felt a personal connection. It was like writing a letter to a friend.

This isn't really goodbye. I plan to remain in Akron, so you may run into me at the grocery store or a charity event. Still, I'd like to thank you for enriching my life and reminding me daily that food is about more than sustenance. It is about love, family, comfort, history, healing, longing... essentially, life itself.

It was a pleasure sharing the feast with you.

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