Does anyone know where this post is or what happened to it?

January 2, 2013 5:13 PM

I'm looking for an old metafilter post in which a food writer for Gourmet magazine or something like that says that "I can no longer in good conscience recommend that someone become a food writer." I've searched both "food critic" and "food writer" using metafilter's internal search engine, and typed out various phrases to the effect of the sentence quoted above on google, and I keep coming up with nothing. Can someone help me out here?
posted by bookman117 to MetaFilter-Related at 5:13 PM (11 comments total)

So... the mefi post was to a link wherein a journalist for Gourmet said this thing? Or was the link to something else and the writer showed up in the post's discussion to say this thing?
posted by carsonb at 5:15 PM on January 2

There was a lot of inside baseball about Gourmet and its parent Conde Nast in this thread, including lots of drop-ins from users who worked personally on the revival.
posted by carsonb at 5:19 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]

This sounds like an essay Amanda Hesser (of the website food52) wrote, but I am not sure in what venue it originally appeared.
posted by mustard seeds at 5:21 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]

the mefi post was to a link wherein a journalist for Gourmet said this thing?

Yes. Maybe not Gourmet, maybe Food and Wine or something, but you get the idea. This person had been a food critic for around 20 years and so had worked at multiple different magazines. It would have been in like the last year or so.
posted by bookman117 at 5:21 PM on January 2

Is it this thing?
posted by box at 5:21 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]

Yes, box and mustard seeds, you two got it. Thanks.
posted by bookman117 at 5:25 PM on January 2

I know it's not the one you're looking for, but following is my all time favorite commentary on restaurant reviewers (and critics in general), by Anton Ego (by way of Brad Bird).

"In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But, the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things... the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something... and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.

Last night I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from an singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking, is a gross understatement-- they have rocked me to my core. In the past I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: “Anyone Can Cook”. But I realize only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest Chef in France."
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:11 PM on January 2 [8 favorites]

box: "Is it this thing?"

A lotta people bitch about what Metafilter does badly, but man, is there a lot of what Metafilter does well in that thread.
posted by boo_radley at 6:12 PM on January 2

Yes, box and mustard seeds, you two got it. Thanks.

'box and mustard seeds' will be the name of my fourth album.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:07 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]

box and mustard seeds does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
posted by sweetkid at 9:39 AM on January 3

Thanks for pointing out that thread. It was highly entertaining.
posted by slogger at 12:45 PM on January 3