Working with taste: food and wine criticism

Careers Articles | June 15, 2010

The activity of critics, whatever area they are skillful in, is undoubtedly the most controversial job in the world.

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Debating over other people’s talents, either exalting or destroying in a few lines a creation of the human intellect – the realization of which is likely to have taken years of research – is a huge responsibility. To deserve the qualification of critic, you are required to have deep technical knowledge and solid experience on the subject you are interested in. However, this is not enough: critics must, above all, be passionate, a feeling that often plays a major role in the content of their reviews. Besides, in case of a negative comment, the expert will be heavily criticized, as often his standards of judgment are not so clear and the tones he uses to put restaurants out of business might be misunderstood. In short, criticism generates stress to the judge and to who is judged.

People usually consider food and wine as the tastiest and most enjoyable products to review. This is certainly true, however, there are also major issues which must be taken into account. Let's see what are the tasks of those who spend the majority of their lunches and dinners eating at restaurants, for work.

A food and wine critic is a person who evaluates the quality and the presentation of a particular food and the context of the meal, or the restaurant. Experts usually have a gourmet palate and attentive eyes to the atmosphere of the room, an element that determines whether the food is appreciated or not and, unfortunately, is often overlooked by restaurateurs. Therefore, critics notice the lack of windows or natural light, which promotes good mood and activates the receptors of taste; the acoustic of the room, such as loud music or constant noises that may annoy customers, the distance between tables, neither to isolate customers nor to deprive them of privacy and, of course, the service and the professionalism of the staff.

However, sometimes also critics left with bad taste. In particular, restaurateurs complain about their habit of not paying bills. This dispute has dragged on for years, and still a solution that satisfies everyone has not been found. Restaurateurs demand payments not only to guarantee fairer reviews, but also to avoid suffering, in addition to the insult of a negative review, the injury of unpaid bills. Critics, on the other hand, complain about the lack of economic coverage by those who request reviews. The point is, critics state: "Do vehicle reviewer purchase or rent every single car they write about?"

Food and wine critics, in fact, often do not receive an adequate salary, as good as the one of their colleagues working on vehicles, fashion and shows: their reviews are published daily, so the experts are usually hired as employees, while food and wine critics are just external contributors. Moreover, forfeit refunds do not take into account meals’ costs, and they appear even more inadequate if the worker has to move from city to city and from restaurant to restaurant. Eating for business can be a bitter experience.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

By Andrea Gnoato with support from menu ristorante. Used with permission.
For information visit contatti ristorante or offerta pranzo.