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The role of a food critic

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Alma, May 25, 2017.

  1. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Generally speaking...I agree with this.

    When it's $500 per head and it's more of a prestige experience...why not right off the bat?
     
  2. Hermes

    Hermes Well-Known Member

    I'd be terrified that being a food critic would ruin all eating experiences for me. I'd have the same fear as a music critic. Being a sportswriter already ruined sports for me forever.
     
  3. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Music critics are the softest critics on the planet and have been for at least 15 years. Sheep, too.
     
  4. Flip Wilson

    Flip Wilson Well-Known Member

    I reviewed restaurants for a few years for the daily here, and when friends would invite us over for dinner, they'd say, "Oh, don't write bad things about our meal."

    It was funny the first few months that I heard it. Got old pretty quick. As did reviewing itself. I got to eat some pretty good food, but I ate a lot of crappy food along the way, too. The paper ran a review every Friday, so I had to find a new place, or review something that hadn't been done in a few years.
     
    Hermes likes this.
  5. Monday Morning Sportswriter

    Monday Morning Sportswriter Well-Known Member

    And I'm OK with them writing about this because it's a unique dining experience. But I would say the review's shelf life is about four weeks. I think they could have achieved the same thing without making it a formal review.
     
  6. Monday Morning Sportswriter

    Monday Morning Sportswriter Well-Known Member

    I reviewed for about two years while in my role as food editor for a metro.

    It's been seven years and I now live 200 miles away in the Adirondacks, cooking for a nonprofit. People who are familiar with my resume are constantly engaging me about local food, and I am a horrible disappointment to them.

    "Where do you like to eat?"
    Me: Joe's Diner.
    "Oh, it must be great!"
    Me: I dunno, it's the diner.
    "Wait, why do you go there?"
    Me: Because it's the diner. It's where we go.
    "What do you get?"
    Me: Tater tots.

    I cannot think of the last time I spent $20 on an entree up here. A sandwich from Hattie's Chicken Shack in Saratoga Springs or the falafel from Ali Baba in Lake George is what I crave, not tomahawk chops and barramundi. When we decide to support the nicest restaurant in town, it's often takeout, and it's often a sandwich.

    Not sure how much of this attitude can be attributed to each job. But chic or high-end is no longer anything I care about.
     
    Alma likes this.
  7. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I am different. I am very into high end food, and pay for it as a part of my disposable income. But I eat at a lot of other places too, and other places can equally satisfying. If out neighborhood pizza/sub place closed, I'd be traumatized. Three-star French restaurants where I've eaten once or never can die without a tear from me.
     
  8. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    I like high end food: Great products made even better by technique and presentation.

    I'm not into paying out the nose for gastronomy.
     
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