Tom, many thanks for participating in this Q&A.
The bio posted here suggests that you are a capable cook and that you have spent at least some time working the line in serious restaurants.
Could you do as good a job as a critic and food writer if you weren't able to cook? What difference does knowing how to cook make in the way you review a restaurant? A music critic need not be a musician, after all, nor an art critic a painter or sculptor. Could a food critic learn her or his trade simply by dining and reading?
Does a food writer need to know how to cook?
Started by
Jonathan Day
, May 27 2003 03:07 PM
1 reply to this topic
#1
Jonathan Day
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- eGullet Society staff emeritus
- 1,729 posts
Posted 27 May 2003 - 03:07 PM
Jonathan Day
"La cuisine, c'est quand les choses ont le go�t de ce qu'elles sont."
"La cuisine, c'est quand les choses ont le go�t de ce qu'elles sont."
#2
Tom Sietsema
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- legacy participant
- 50 posts
Posted 29 May 2003 - 06:23 AM
I do think it is important for a critic to know about ingredients and how things go together. That kind of knowledge simply makes for a more informed review.
Does said critic have to be a GREAT cook? No. Perfect knife skills, for instance, don’t necessarily translate into entertaining writing.
Allow me to clarify something: I have never worked “the line” in a restaurant kitchen; my experience on The Other Side of the Business was
strictly “the front of the house.” Any culinary talent I have is the result of years of recipe testing, first for the Food section of the Post, and later, as the food editor of the Milwaukee Journal.
I do very little cooking these days, due to my dining schedule of twelve or so
meals out every week. And frankly, I miss spending time in the kitchen.
Does said critic have to be a GREAT cook? No. Perfect knife skills, for instance, don’t necessarily translate into entertaining writing.
Allow me to clarify something: I have never worked “the line” in a restaurant kitchen; my experience on The Other Side of the Business was
strictly “the front of the house.” Any culinary talent I have is the result of years of recipe testing, first for the Food section of the Post, and later, as the food editor of the Milwaukee Journal.
I do very little cooking these days, due to my dining schedule of twelve or so
meals out every week. And frankly, I miss spending time in the kitchen.
