Marissa Rogers had never attended one of The Daily Memphian lunches. Neither had Josie Ballin.

“I work in the neighborhood,” said Ballin. “I said, ‘Why not?’ ”

Calkins: I’ve covered Memphis sports for 27 years. Now it’s time for something else.

“I just saw that it was happening and thought, ‘Hey, I can do that one!’ ” Rogers said.

So just before noon Friday, Ballin and Rogers found themselves at separate tables at Hen House, tucking into a lunch of fish tacos and stir-fried noodles — and chatting away with new and old friends.

And that, in one small moment, is the magic of Jennifer Biggs.

She brings people together. Around Memphis and food. Oh, and laughter. And friendship. Maybe friendship most of all.

“She’s one of my best friends,” said Juli Eck, a regular participant in the lunch series. “But everybody thinks they’re one of Jennifer Biggs’ best friends.”

This lunch was different than all that preceded it because Biggs couldn’t preside over the merriment. She’s in the hospital, recovering from surgery for stage 4 colon cancer. Biggs posted about her situation on Facebook earlier in the week but — because she cares so much about restaurants and the people who work in them — she wanted the lunch to go on.

Recipe Exchange: Easy Teriyaki Quinoa Bowls

So the event turned into a bit of a get-well party. People told stories as they ate.

“I once had an oyster party,” Eck said. “And a friend was there, who was a cop. The cop was a profiler and Jennifer said, ‘I bet you can’t profile me.’ The cop looked at Jennifer and said, ‘Well, you’re combative.’ Jennifer rolled up both her sleeves and said, ‘No, I’m not.’ ”

So maybe she can be a little bit combative. But then, how else would she have done all she has done?

Biggs never took a journalism class. In the early ‘90s, she was working in public relations.

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“I just decided I did not like what I was doing,” she said. “I got a job making $250 a week for the DeSoto Tribune. I had a five-year-old child. And it was a temporary job, for six months. But on the last day — the very last day of the six months — a car hit me and the driver stopped and I got $900 in insurance.”

That $900 was enough to get Biggs started as a freelancer. She’d write for anyone and everyone. The Commercial Appeal. The Clarion-Ledger. The Clarksdale Press Register. She was a single mom with a child.

Finally, The Commercial Appeal gave her a full-time gig. And more than two decades later, she is — as much as any journalist in the city — beloved.

But she works as furiously hard as ever. That hasn’t changed. Indeed, she jokes about how much harder she works than I do.

Table Talk: Summer’s (officially) here. Let’s eat!

And (I never thought I’d admit this publicly) she’s right.

Biggs and I were two of the original hires at The Daily Memphian. We published our first edition in September, 2018. Since then, my byline has appeared 852 times. Biggs’ byline has appeared 1,363 times.

So for every two pieces I write, she writes three. She writes about restaurant openings and closings, about $10 meal deals and legendary Memphis recipes. She reviews restaurants, does a podcast every week, presides over a wildly popular Facebook group (“Table Talk”) and puts together The Daily Memphian lunch series.

During COVID, Biggs wound up covering the health department, as well. I’m not sure she ever slept.

“She’s so busy, nobody understands how busy she is,” said Natalie Van Gundy, who produces the podcast, among other things. “‘She might be the hardest-working journalist at The Daily Memphian.”

And yet, she writes with such joy! Such easy humor and grace. It’s not just that people think they know Biggs after reading her pieces. It’s that they want to hang with her, join her at that new restaurant, or at least join her in the way she celebrates life.

So when Biggs put up the post on Facebook about her diagnoses, more than 700 people typed personal notes in response. That doesn’t count all the people who called or texted.

Recipe Exchange: Sour cream brown sugar ice cream

“No words can describe the shock,” typed Steve Conley, the longtime radio host. “Understand, you have thousands of people caring and praying for your recovery, Jennifer.”

The point isn’t to keep a running tally of Facebooks comments and likes, of course. The point is that Biggs has — through her astonishing work over the years — forged something worth celebrating, particularly in these times. She has forged a community.

She has connected hundreds of people to hundreds of other people. She has connected us to holes-in-the-wall and to sumptuous new restaurants and to the city that we call home.

Now she is faced with a difficult diagnosis. She may write about it herself, at some point. Indeed, when I talked to Biggs briefly late Friday afternoon, she was apologetic that she has not yet been able to personally respond to all 700 Facebook messages. And it’s fruitless to tell her that nobody expects her to respond.

“When I get back home, I’ll definitely let everyone know how much they mean,” she said.

Recipe Exchange: Cochinita Pibil and Brazilian Black Beans

So let’s close with a small story. About what may be the best way through all this. 

That 5-year-old child Biggs had when she was making her way as a freelancer? Her name is Megan. She has two kids of her own. Jack is 9. Chloe is 6. They’re cuter than I can begin to describe.

The week before Biggs was diagnosed, the whole family went on a trip to Mexico. But Biggs, dealing with what was then a mysterious anemia, was tired much of the time.

So one day, walking down the beach, Biggs reminded her grandchildren not to sprint ahead.

“Remember, I’m moving slower than usual,” she said.

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Whereupon Jack fell back and took his grandmother’s hand.

“We can slow the pace,” he said. 

And Chloe, taking her grandmother’s other hand, agreed that the pace was just fine. 

“It’s not too slow. We can walk together,” she said.