Food critic

Last updated April 18, 2024

A food critic, food writer, or restaurant critic is a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings to the public. Although these terms are not strictly synonymous, they are often used interchangeably. In some circumstances, at least. Those who share their opinions via food columns in newspapers and magazines are known as food columnists. They are often experts in the field.

Terminology

"Food writer" is often used as a broad term that encompasses someone who writes about food and about restaurants. For example, Ruth Reichl is often described as a food writer/editor, who in the course of her career served as the "restaurant critic" for The New York Times and for the Los Angeles Times .^[1] R.W. "Johnny" Apple was also described as a food writer, but never served as a designated restaurant critic. Nonetheless, he wrote frequently about restaurants as he traveled in search of good eats. Calvin Trillin writes a great deal about food (among other things) and has been known to write occasionally about specific restaurants, e.g., Arthur Bryant's and Diedee's. But restaurants figure less prominently in his writing than in Apple's. Finally, Richard Olney was also a noted food writer, but rarely if ever wrote about restaurants.

Food critics and "restaurant critic" are synonyms, in practice, although there is still a distinction to be made. Both suggest a critical, evaluative stance that often involves some kind of rating system. The distinction, if any involves the range of possible investigation. "Food critic" has a more contemporary meaning, suggesting that restaurants, bakeries, food festivals and street vendors are all fair game. Jonathan Gold of L.A. Weekly and the Los Angeles Times , who is the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize, exemplifies this trend. "Restaurant critic" is the more traditional title and can connote a more restricted sphere of operations — traditional restaurants, with perhaps those serving French cuisine being the examples. The change in practice, if not in terminology, is often attributed to Reichl's arrival at the New York Times, replacing Bryan Miller. In a series of well-documented incidents, Miller complained that Reichl was "giving SoHo noodle shops 2 and 3 stars" and destroying the rating system that had been built up by Craig Claiborne, Mimi Sheraton, and Miller.^[2]

Notable food critics

For most of the past century, the most highly visible food critics have been those who have written for daily newspapers throughout the world and a few who have been restaurant reviewers for influential magazines, such as Gourmet in the United States. The ephemeral nature of radio and television has meant that very few food critics have used this medium effectively (as opposed to chefs who have used all media to great effect). An example is the BBC's The Food Programme. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also used both broadcast media and print to concentrate on food production rather than presentation, starting a new column in The Guardian in September 2006.

Restaurant critics range in their approach to writing from the acerbic (such as A. A. Gill from London), to the witty/humorous (such as Morgan Murphy, "America's Funniest Food Critic," or Terry Durack from "The Independent on Sunday") to the "been there done that" approach of Ruth Reichl of Gourmet and formerly of The New York Times. Other notable critics include Patricia Wells of the International Herald Tribune , who writes knowledgeable and perceptive articles about food and restaurants and who occasionally uses the sword rather than her usual suave style. Another was R. W. Apple Jr., from The New York Times, who wrote long, thoughtful articles about his travels throughout the world in search of great food. Brad A. Johnson in Los Angeles is the only American restaurant critic to win both the coveted James Beard Award and the Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Award for restaurant criticism. The record for the most meals eaten by a food critic is 46,000 by Fred E. Magel of Chicago, in 60 countries over a 50-year career.

Then there are myriad regional food critics, ranging from Nancy Leson in Seattle, to Pat Nourse in Sydney, Cooper Adams in Albany, and Stephen Downes and John Lethlean in Melbourne, who pen weekly and monthly reviews of the best of their respective cities.

Giles Coren is known for hosting the show "Million Dollar Critic" in which he assesses restaurants in Canada and United States,focusing on the quality of services, food taste and the ambiance of every restaurant he visits. He has also been a food columnist for The Times, GQ, Tatler & The Independent.

Food criticism on the internet

The internet has slowly become more important in forming opinions about restaurants. Food criticism on the Internet has allowed creation of shows with specific audiences^[3] as well as social media accounts such as food critics The VIP List on TikTok.

Related Research Articles

Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians.

Craig Claiborne was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for The New York Times, he was also the author of numerous cookbooks and an autobiography. Over the course of his career, he made many contributions to gastronomy and food writing in the United States.

Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. The New York Times noted that "Gourmet was to food what Vogue is to fashion." Founded by Earle R. MacAusland (1890–1980), Gourmet, first published in January 1941, also covered "good living" on a wider scale, and grew to incorporate culture, travel, and politics into its food coverage. James Oseland, an author and editor in chief of rival food magazine Saveur, called Gourmet "an American cultural icon."

Ruth Reichl, is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and has been co-producer of PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS's Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth, and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. She has won six James Beard Foundation Awards.

Nancy Silverton is an American chef, baker, restaurateur, and author. The winner of the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef Award in 2014, Silverton is recognized for her role in popularizing sourdough and artisan breads in the United States.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awards are presented at a dinner in New York City; the chef and restaurant awards were also presented in New York until 2015, when the foundation's annual gala moved to Chicago. Chicago will continue to host the Awards until 2027.

Jonathan Gold was an American food critic and music critic. He was for many years the chief food critic for the Los Angeles Times and also wrote for LA Weekly and Gourmet, in addition to serving as a regular contributor on KCRW's Good Food radio program. Gold often chose small, traditional immigrant restaurants for his reviews, although he covered all types of cuisine. In 2007, while writing for the LA Weekly, he became the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Ed Levine is the creator/founder of Serious Eats, the author of the entrepreneurial memoir Serious Eater: A Food Lover's Quest for Pizza and Redemption, and the host of the podcast Special Sauce. He was formerly a frequent The New York Times contributor. His stories on iconic American foods such as pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream and cheesecake have appeared in many U.S. periodicals, including GQ, BusinessWeek and The New York Times. In 2016, Levine was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America.

Colman Robert Hardy Andrews is an American writer and editor on food and wine. He is best known for his association with Saveur magazine, which he founded with Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, and Christopher Hirsheimer in 1994 and where he served as editor-in-chief from 2001 until 2006. After resigning from the magazine in 2006, he became the restaurant columnist for Gourmet. In 2010, he helped launch a food and drink website, The Daily Meal, and served as its editorial director until mid-2018. He is now a senior editor specializing in food and travel for 24/7 Tempo. He is considered one of the world's foremost experts on Spanish cuisine, particularly that of the Catalonia region.

Michelle Huneven is an American novelist and journalist. Huneven was born and raised in Altadena, California, where she returned to live in 2001. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and attended the Methodist Claremont School of Theology to become a UU minister, but she quit after two years to write novels.

Scott Conant is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. Since 2009, Conant has been a judge on the reality cooking television series Chopped. He has published four cookbooks.

Michel Louis-Marie Richard was a French-born chef, formerly the owner of the restaurant Citrus in Los Angeles and Citronelle and Central in Washington, D.C. He has owned restaurants in Santa Barbara, Tokyo, Carmel, New York City, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Washington D.C.

Gerald Albert Asher is an English wine personality based since 1974 in San Francisco, California. Initially a wine merchant and importer, today, he is a wine writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Evans Brown</span> American chef and cookbook writer

Helen Evans Brown (1904–1964) was an American chef and cookbook writer. She was a nationally known expert and wrote regular food columns, as well as collecting cookbooks from other authors. She was known as the authority on the west coast food scene of the 1950s and 1960s. She was one of the first chefs to advocate using fresh produce and promoting California cuisine.

Soleil Ho is an American chef, food writer, podcaster, and restaurant critic. Formerly co-host of the podcast The Racist Sandwich, Ho became the food critic at the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019, replacing Michael Bauer. Ho left the position in 2023, becoming a part of the Chronicle's opinion desk. Ho was awarded the James Beard Award for criticism in 2022, and was nominated for the same in 2020 and 2023.

Francis Lam is an American food journalist, cookbook editor, and since 2017 the host of American Public Media's The Splendid Table.

Laurie Ochoa is an American journalist and food critic.

Adam Platt is an American writer and restaurant critic. He is currently the senior restaurant critic for New York magazine, a position he has held since July 2000, when he succeeded Gael Greene. He won the James Beard Foundation Journalism Award for Restaurant Reviews in 2009, and has been nominated for the same award on other occasions.

Tejal Rao is a restaurant critic, recipe developer and writer based in Los Angeles. In 2018, she was named the first California restaurant critic for The New York Times. In 2021, she was named editor of the New York Times subscription cooking newsletter The Veggie.

<i>Garlic and Sapphires</i> 2005 memoir by Ruth Reichl

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is a 2005 memoir by Ruth Reichl describing her tenure as restaurant critic for The New York Times. It also includes some recipes and reprints some of Reichl's columns for the Times. The book was received favorably by critics and became a New York Times best seller.

References

↑ Ruth Reichl
↑ "The Salon Interview | Ruth Reichl". Archived from the original on 2000-09-25. Retrieved 2006-09-13.
↑ Stock, Sue (18 April 2010). "Web viewers warm up to frozen food show". News & Observer . Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.

External links

Anonymous Restaurant Critic

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[1] Ruth Reichl

[2] "The Salon Interview | Ruth Reichl". Archived from the original on 2000-09-25. Retrieved 2006-09-13.

[newsobserver-3] Stock, Sue (18 April 2010). "Web viewers warm up to frozen food show". News & Observer . Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.

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