I commend the way you approach your work. It's a noble pursuit to place your singular focus on delivering high-quality, unbiased criticism. The ultimate question here feels like: Is anonymity essential for developing completely unbiased opinions? The answer is probably yes.
But hear me out on this. I don't think dropping anonymity directly results in bias. It's what comes with it - better than normal service, free dishes, etc. But to be honest, as a reader, I don't really care if they were a little nicer to you or dropped a free dish or two. I really don't. Because I trust that you can sift through the bullshit and deliver an honest take. You've been doing this for long enough, you know what's real and what's fake.
Honestly, I think the most important factor is if you lay your card down at the end of the night. It is impossible to assess value when the money isn't coming out of your bank account. How can you write for the masses about the worthiness of an experience if the meal was comped (by the restaurant, by the Times, by... anyone)? As long as you're paying, I think most bias can be sidestepped.
I recognize that when you're writing about a restaurant - good, bad, or indifferent - you're writing with the intent of guiding people toward great experiences, and steering them clear of bad ones. I don't think your judgment would be clouded by a slightly elevated service experience. Yes, they'll be on their game. But if a place sucks, they're not coming up with new menu items on the spot to appease you, or developing an entirely new service methodology to make it a special experience. They can either deliver a great experience or not. You'll see what they're capable of, knowing it's probably the best they've got.
At the end of the day, my vote would go toward maintaining anonymity. But either way, please don't start making Instagram reels.
The "laying your own money" down thing is a big one and a great point. Almost no one else is. So yeah, when it hurts it hurts. And when it's great I feel the value. Hahaha no reels forthcoming on The Hunger. Just ones on IG to promote the podcast sometimes.
Obviously, influencers are not Food Criticism they are billboards, whether paid or not, that serve to show off a restaurant/food. The same way a Movie has a premiere, a theatre production has previews, and restaurants have "media dinners". It 's to show off.
But criticism is a rhetorical device for culture. An art critic could be anonymous but may lose out on insight from the artist by avoiding a dialogue at the gallery showing.
You are an experienced critic, who doesn't even give out "ratings". I think that staying anonymous at first showing with a restaurant is great for that standard guest experience but I also think something can be gained by engaging with the chefs/owners of establishments you believe are worthy of the critical cultural eye you bring.
Whether its a follow up phone call or email, or coming back in person breaking down the Iron Curtain for further insight isn't the end of the world.
Yep and I do engage a lot for sure via DM and email and phone. Once I review someone and I really love their work I often interview them on a podcast or other venue and no longer review them because I agree there’s a lot more interesting stuff to report on past that initial meal.
I think there's a big difference between being known and treated better outside of your control and chumming content while taking free stuff. It's a vibes-based differentiation, but man you definitely know it when you see it. That said, the anonymity seems exhausting so good on you for keeping that up.
Anonymous for sure. I’ve worked in the back of the house for over 30 years and it is a treat to have an upscale dinner. I greatly appreciate your unbiased and experienced palate. Cheers to integrity. I’m grateful. Thank you!!
I very much appreciate those that place a higher standard towards transparency and objectivity. But at the same time, I'll never be mad at the "reviewers" that are doing things to put themselves in a better spot financially!
I'll still read all that fluff too bc I'm a sucker for ingesting food information. But I'll generally disregard that stuff while opinions from you, Titus and select others are held in higher regard.
Hopefully theres some value in knowing that, but I know my gratitude and appreciation sure as hell doesn't pay the bills! :)
I won't say what one should or shouldn't do, but I've found it tremendously valuable that you have not-great experiences at well-regarded places and talk about them candidly. In a world where I had infinite time and money, I would try all the places I want to try. In the real world, I have to prioritize heavily, and I do think you are steering me—and I hope a bunch of other readers—toward quality and honest good work, and that's worth a lot for me.
I think the points you are and have been making are important. I think that what you and the “influencers” (restaurant and other reviewers who get paid by the establishment for their positivity, honest or not) are selling is two different products. That could be fine if everyone understood the difference. Maybe the “followers” try to pretend that they recognize the differences and weigh them differently. I.e. Turn to unbiased, anonymous, ethical journalism for an accurate summary of a restaurant, or turn to the influencers to see what’s hot. But not enough people think very hard about the differences. Most people don’t really care enough to write off a hot spot because the journalist said it was no good. And conversely, most people are not going to skip going to the hot spot because all these influencers shilling it aren’t being honest about their experience, or even receiving an honest experience to begin with. The place is being talked about which means “we gotta go so we can talk about it, too!” Honestly, half the time, it doesn’t even matter that much if it turns out to be bad, we just have to be able to say we went and either gush about how amazing it was and how well-dined we are because we’ve been to the latest spots, or dish about how bad it was and how well-dined we are because only people who know better can understand what’s bad… we all love to hate!
I guess part of the question is really what you are selling. Are you entertainment? Education? Advertising space? Are you protecting the less-savvy reader from wasting their hard earned dollars at a restaurant not worthy of them? Which of those things are people in the market for? Maybe very few people actually want to be protected with some guarantee, they just want to go out and try it, good or bad. Or does it matter to you who wants to buy what, do you just want to do what you do ‘cause you love it?
In terms of your professional ease, depending on how you define that, as a food critic you’re probably getting in your own way, yeah. You could probably sell out, do the thing everyone else does, lose a bunch of followers who are disappointed in you at first and once everybody forgets that you were the guy calling everyone else out to begin with you could rise to mediocrity and make more money and have even more weight to throw around the restaurant scene like the 50k-followers influencers who are just billboards.
In terms of being a self-respecting and self-aware human being who feels obligated to choose what they stand for no matter what professional medium they do it through, I think you’re 100% fighting the good fight. I also think fighting the good fight is probably futile in terms of changing the way society works and hoping to reverse the fall of integrity and honesty and intention, at best it is slowing the wheel from turning too quickly in the wrong direction, but that’s not nothing! It’s certainly worth $5 a month to me! How much is it worth to you?!
Thanks for these observations. I would prefer anonymity, but it’s pretty hard in today’s world to be completely anonymous. (I’ve asked the Google about myself—there’s alot and I’m a nobody.) Regarding Priya and Melissa specifically, both have done lots of interviews and other media outside of their roles with NYT. They’re well known in New York City and elsewhere—certainly among food media consumers. I know what they look like, and I live here. Since they’re interim critics and reasonably well known, I’m not sure that anonymous works for their situation. Assuming the NYT hires a replacement for Pete Wells, I do agree that anonymity should be part of the job.
Yeah I thought about that and then my next question was why do we pick the known person as an interim reviewer. Why not someone no one knows. Although both of them are good at what they do and interesting so it’s probably tough to go from Pete to an unknown and this is an ok bridge.
Great read! My suggestion, per your request, is to take a little bit from everyone and everything. If they’re offering, take them up on it. I need you to keep writing and help me discover new places and great chefs. I appreciate what you do whether there is personal perks or not.
Personally, i prefer less content that is anonymous. Provides a level of trust and objectivity that can be hard when an owner or staff go out of their way for you. There are tons of reviews of everything on the intenet already. Differentiated content makes a difference for me.
I commend the way you approach your work. It's a noble pursuit to place your singular focus on delivering high-quality, unbiased criticism. The ultimate question here feels like: Is anonymity essential for developing completely unbiased opinions? The answer is probably yes.
But hear me out on this. I don't think dropping anonymity directly results in bias. It's what comes with it - better than normal service, free dishes, etc. But to be honest, as a reader, I don't really care if they were a little nicer to you or dropped a free dish or two. I really don't. Because I trust that you can sift through the bullshit and deliver an honest take. You've been doing this for long enough, you know what's real and what's fake.
Honestly, I think the most important factor is if you lay your card down at the end of the night. It is impossible to assess value when the money isn't coming out of your bank account. How can you write for the masses about the worthiness of an experience if the meal was comped (by the restaurant, by the Times, by... anyone)? As long as you're paying, I think most bias can be sidestepped.
I recognize that when you're writing about a restaurant - good, bad, or indifferent - you're writing with the intent of guiding people toward great experiences, and steering them clear of bad ones. I don't think your judgment would be clouded by a slightly elevated service experience. Yes, they'll be on their game. But if a place sucks, they're not coming up with new menu items on the spot to appease you, or developing an entirely new service methodology to make it a special experience. They can either deliver a great experience or not. You'll see what they're capable of, knowing it's probably the best they've got.
At the end of the day, my vote would go toward maintaining anonymity. But either way, please don't start making Instagram reels.
The "laying your own money" down thing is a big one and a great point. Almost no one else is. So yeah, when it hurts it hurts. And when it's great I feel the value. Hahaha no reels forthcoming on The Hunger. Just ones on IG to promote the podcast sometimes.
Not a total loss, though... They proved at least they can produce a high quality dining experience. 😊
What is the role of Food Criticism?
Obviously, influencers are not Food Criticism they are billboards, whether paid or not, that serve to show off a restaurant/food. The same way a Movie has a premiere, a theatre production has previews, and restaurants have "media dinners". It 's to show off.
But criticism is a rhetorical device for culture. An art critic could be anonymous but may lose out on insight from the artist by avoiding a dialogue at the gallery showing.
You are an experienced critic, who doesn't even give out "ratings". I think that staying anonymous at first showing with a restaurant is great for that standard guest experience but I also think something can be gained by engaging with the chefs/owners of establishments you believe are worthy of the critical cultural eye you bring.
Whether its a follow up phone call or email, or coming back in person breaking down the Iron Curtain for further insight isn't the end of the world.
Yep and I do engage a lot for sure via DM and email and phone. Once I review someone and I really love their work I often interview them on a podcast or other venue and no longer review them because I agree there’s a lot more interesting stuff to report on past that initial meal.
I think there's a big difference between being known and treated better outside of your control and chumming content while taking free stuff. It's a vibes-based differentiation, but man you definitely know it when you see it. That said, the anonymity seems exhausting so good on you for keeping that up.
Anonymous for sure. I’ve worked in the back of the house for over 30 years and it is a treat to have an upscale dinner. I greatly appreciate your unbiased and experienced palate. Cheers to integrity. I’m grateful. Thank you!!
I very much appreciate those that place a higher standard towards transparency and objectivity. But at the same time, I'll never be mad at the "reviewers" that are doing things to put themselves in a better spot financially!
I'll still read all that fluff too bc I'm a sucker for ingesting food information. But I'll generally disregard that stuff while opinions from you, Titus and select others are held in higher regard.
Hopefully theres some value in knowing that, but I know my gratitude and appreciation sure as hell doesn't pay the bills! :)
I won't say what one should or shouldn't do, but I've found it tremendously valuable that you have not-great experiences at well-regarded places and talk about them candidly. In a world where I had infinite time and money, I would try all the places I want to try. In the real world, I have to prioritize heavily, and I do think you are steering me—and I hope a bunch of other readers—toward quality and honest good work, and that's worth a lot for me.
I think the points you are and have been making are important. I think that what you and the “influencers” (restaurant and other reviewers who get paid by the establishment for their positivity, honest or not) are selling is two different products. That could be fine if everyone understood the difference. Maybe the “followers” try to pretend that they recognize the differences and weigh them differently. I.e. Turn to unbiased, anonymous, ethical journalism for an accurate summary of a restaurant, or turn to the influencers to see what’s hot. But not enough people think very hard about the differences. Most people don’t really care enough to write off a hot spot because the journalist said it was no good. And conversely, most people are not going to skip going to the hot spot because all these influencers shilling it aren’t being honest about their experience, or even receiving an honest experience to begin with. The place is being talked about which means “we gotta go so we can talk about it, too!” Honestly, half the time, it doesn’t even matter that much if it turns out to be bad, we just have to be able to say we went and either gush about how amazing it was and how well-dined we are because we’ve been to the latest spots, or dish about how bad it was and how well-dined we are because only people who know better can understand what’s bad… we all love to hate!
I guess part of the question is really what you are selling. Are you entertainment? Education? Advertising space? Are you protecting the less-savvy reader from wasting their hard earned dollars at a restaurant not worthy of them? Which of those things are people in the market for? Maybe very few people actually want to be protected with some guarantee, they just want to go out and try it, good or bad. Or does it matter to you who wants to buy what, do you just want to do what you do ‘cause you love it?
In terms of your professional ease, depending on how you define that, as a food critic you’re probably getting in your own way, yeah. You could probably sell out, do the thing everyone else does, lose a bunch of followers who are disappointed in you at first and once everybody forgets that you were the guy calling everyone else out to begin with you could rise to mediocrity and make more money and have even more weight to throw around the restaurant scene like the 50k-followers influencers who are just billboards.
In terms of being a self-respecting and self-aware human being who feels obligated to choose what they stand for no matter what professional medium they do it through, I think you’re 100% fighting the good fight. I also think fighting the good fight is probably futile in terms of changing the way society works and hoping to reverse the fall of integrity and honesty and intention, at best it is slowing the wheel from turning too quickly in the wrong direction, but that’s not nothing! It’s certainly worth $5 a month to me! How much is it worth to you?!
This is amazing. Thank you
Thanks for these observations. I would prefer anonymity, but it’s pretty hard in today’s world to be completely anonymous. (I’ve asked the Google about myself—there’s alot and I’m a nobody.) Regarding Priya and Melissa specifically, both have done lots of interviews and other media outside of their roles with NYT. They’re well known in New York City and elsewhere—certainly among food media consumers. I know what they look like, and I live here. Since they’re interim critics and reasonably well known, I’m not sure that anonymous works for their situation. Assuming the NYT hires a replacement for Pete Wells, I do agree that anonymity should be part of the job.
Yeah I thought about that and then my next question was why do we pick the known person as an interim reviewer. Why not someone no one knows. Although both of them are good at what they do and interesting so it’s probably tough to go from Pete to an unknown and this is an ok bridge.
Great read! My suggestion, per your request, is to take a little bit from everyone and everything. If they’re offering, take them up on it. I need you to keep writing and help me discover new places and great chefs. I appreciate what you do whether there is personal perks or not.
Thank you, Michael, for being you.
Personally, i prefer less content that is anonymous. Provides a level of trust and objectivity that can be hard when an owner or staff go out of their way for you. There are tons of reviews of everything on the intenet already. Differentiated content makes a difference for me.