286876 Sun Jan 21 13:53:51 -0800 2001 21 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1540139 As I was enjoying a recent issue of Saveur and then the recently published Counter Intelligence by Jonathan Gold (in which the richer and fattier items were highly praised by Mr. Gold), I realized how much fatty foods all these restaurant critics and food writers must consume. Does anyone know if every restaurant critic and food writer is generously proportioned? If not, what's their secret for eating so well but maintaining a trim physique and healthy heart? I'm guessing that eating at many great restaurants on someone else's tab must make them pretty happy and contributes to the happy=healthy heart equation. Just very curious how anyone manages to eat foie gras every day and stay out of the cardiac care unit... Sun Jan 21 13:53:51 -0800 2001 0 highendpalate 1 1540141 There are a lot of food critics who are actually quite trim or of average weight, beleive it or not such as ex-Ny Times food critic Ruth Reichl, John Mariani, Gael Greene, etc... The reason is that since they eat out on a very regular basis, usually with groups, they order a lot of dishes and only take several bites of each dish while sharing with their fellow diners. Sice they know that their next meal is only a few days, or even hours away they don't overindulge in every single course, but instead graze on them to just be able to critique each dish. Of course, I'm sure some food critics struggle with their weight, because when a particular dish is really to their liking they can't restrain themself from consuming it all. William Grimes, in his great, informative book "The Man Who Ate Everything," mentions the fact that he struggled with his weight because he loves food so much. So it really is an individual thing with both critics and foodies alike. Another way to maintain an attracti, trim physique while enjoying all your favorite rich foods, is by exercising regularly which a lot of food critics such as Meredith Brody often do. The truth is if you want to both enjoy great food and stay lean,you must stay physically active and exercise is the best way to achieve that. Sun Jan 21 14:46:37 -0800 2001 1540139 0 SexLoveRockSushi 2 1540143 William Grimes did not write "The Man Who Ate Everything". Jeffrey Steingarten did. Sun Jan 21 15:03:24 -0800 2001 1540141 0 Jim Leff 3 1540145 Does this mean that Steingarten ate William Grimes? That would satisfy a number of chowhounds, no? Andrew Sun Jan 21 18:40:59 -0800 2001 1540143 0 weinhen 2 1540144 Um, isnt that Jeffrey Steingarten, not Grimes? Sun Jan 21 15:54:11 -0800 2001 1540141 0 Jason Perlow 3 1540147 you're right about steingarten, and, william grimes is, in fact, quite slender. Sun Jan 21 20:26:10 -0800 2001 1540144 0 jr 4 1540722 Is there any way I can get in touch with Jeffrey Steingarten over e-mail? Mon Feb 19 08:05:06 -0800 2001 1540147 0 Juan-Carlo Tomas 5 1540723 try going to www.msgmetro.com and then the show ny eats Mon Feb 19 08:49:09 -0800 2001 1540722 0 stephen kaye 1 1540142 Food critics tend to be evenly divided between either trim or corpulent, with very few falling in between. It's the same reason they tend to be very sleazy or very honest...at some point in this game you've got to stake out a very firm stand on code of conduct as well as code of eating/exercise habits. There's really no grey area, it's one extreme or the other. Just before the break on the first professional music gig I ever did, an older musician gave me great advice. He said "Kid, if you want to be a heavy drinker, that's cool. But decide now, because for the rest of your life there will be free drinks everywhere you look. So you've got to take a stand right now on which way you're gonna go...because otherwise you'll become a heavy drinker without even realizing it". Very true. As for myself, I mostly eat tiny portions when I'm working (unless something's really great and I can't help it) and I exercise like a Tasmanian Devil. ciao Sun Jan 21 15:00:51 -0800 2001 1540139 0 Jim Leff 1 1540151 JM of the Saturday Times in London is the archetypal fatty critic. If he was any bigger he would have his own climate as it is I suspect each of his chins has its own post code. That being said, he is an estimable critic who truly knows what he is on about ( apart from when he feels the need to pucker up to the bottom of Marco "three sittings a night" Pierre White ) so one can forgive him his extra poundage. Mon Jan 22 05:54:21 -0800 2001 1540139 0 Simon Majumdar 2 1540165 "Forgive"? When did being a bit -- or even a lot -- bigger around than the average become a sin? Tue Jan 23 00:14:22 -0800 2001 1540151 0 C. Fox 3 1540166 True. A bad choice of words.:) Tue Jan 23 00:57:16 -0800 2001 1540165 0 Simon Majumdar 4 1540898 Was the archetypal fatty critic, was... I have lost five stone, 70 lb, and don't know where to find it - so am now the archetypical (spelling! Simon) middleweight critic. Still, your line about having my own climate is a good one which I shall feel free to nick, ditto the postcodes. As for Marco - eating what he and his people cook is one thing, anilingus quite another: that's for Mr Toni Tartuffe when he gets together with Dubya. Tue Feb 27 14:07:41 -0800 2001 1540166 0 Jonathan Meades 5 1540900 Mr Meades A thousand apologies for piling on the pounds. I take it back unreservedly I salute you. As a person who has lost enough fat recently to cook breakfast for the crew of the Ark Royal, I can testify to the difficulty, particularly in your line of work. In my case it was not work related just sheer gluttony. As for MPW. One more friendly review and I am sure you will suffer in the afterlife ( an eternity of eating in Harvester's and Cafe Med's :) Wed Feb 28 04:16:43 -0800 2001 1540898 0 Simon Majumdar 5 1540901 JM - glad to see you're perusing Chowhound! We welcome the participation of anyone who tells it like it is, as you seem to do. Keep your climate about you. PS Not to put too fine a point on it - I believe archetypical and archetypal (both 'real' words) are synonyms (if that was in fact the nature of your beef with Simon's spelling!) Wed Feb 28 06:19:04 -0800 2001 1540898 0 magnolia 6 1540908 Maybe - it depends on your dictionary. Still, that apart, don't use: ! marks/screamers. Equally, never apologise - though,again, the fat>Ark Royal construction is nice, ur-Blighty, has the sniff of Pompey and 'other ranks'/ warrant officers messes (the source of the most exciting English English from Dickens to Wells to Burgess). But this is a food gob. So: read Burgess's Tremor Of Intent. Wed Feb 28 19:29:45 -0800 2001 1540901 0 Jonathan Meades 7 1540909 I've found this post fascinating, as I don't understand almost terms in it, despite being an English Lit major and, currently a writer. Another specimen of American English and English English not relating...? I would enjoy some postings of your reviews, as those of us in the Midwest US don't generally and easily get London food reviews--or, frankly, use them frequently (or in my case, almost never.) But enjoy the art of it. And you sobviously to have both art and grace--and self deprecation which is always and ever charming. Wed Feb 28 22:07:45 -0800 2001 1540908 0 berkleybabe 8 1540910 the original question was are all food critics fat. AA Gill looks pretty trim, and Nick Foulks of the Evening Standard is actually thin by the looks of his photo. On the other hand, Charles Campion, also of the ES is massive and used to go by the name of The Trencherman. Matthew Fort looks reasonable for a man of his age and Fay Maschler ditto for a critic of about 30 years standing (shes into pilates apparently). I am an amateur critic, and have also been travelling for my work for the last 4 years. This has necessitated staying in hotels and eating out more regularly than any sane person would wish to. I have gained a stone for each year. Too much foie gras and too little exercise. Jonathan, you may be interested to read my "Top 5 critics" at the link below. Link: http://www.alynes.freeserve.co.uk Thu Mar 01 05:32:39 -0800 2001 1540909 0 Andy Lynes 9 1540911 Calling AA Gill a food critic is stretching it a bit. He barely deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the others, apart from Mr Foulkes whom I would send to Hell in the same handcart. Our ( middleweight ) chum JM writes about the food and place of eating. Mr G merely writes about himself, how splendid he is and how splendid it is for us to read about him He is the sort of person one bumps into at a party and who says " that's enough me talking about me, why don't you tell me how great I am for a while" His knowledge is risible. Very much of the "wine's quite nice when you get used to it isn't it?" level I have never met the man, but I can say with some certainty that I would rather nail my own pelvis to a coffee table than be in a situation where I had to inhale in the same room as him. BTW - heartily agree with JM's Burgessian reading rec's. I met Burgess once and a more ornery old man you could never hope to encounter. But his words are pure platinum. Thu Mar 01 07:28:18 -0800 2001 1540910 0 Simon Majumdar 10 1540921 Jonathan Meades's food criticism is excellent, as are his TV documentaries on architecture. But they both get in the way of his writing a second novel. Get on with it man. Incidentally Jonathan, official Burgess biographer Andrew Biswell and I were recently toying with the idea of a Burgess cookbook - the banquet from Tremor of Intent obviously, the dishes from AB's childhood such as lobscouse and lancashire hotpot (Graham Greene's inclusion of carrots in this dish in The Human Factor excited Burgess's ire), not to mention Enderby's ghastly stews. The drinks section would be rather larger of course. Sorry if this is going off at a tangent. But I can only advise your contributors to read Mr Meade's book of short stories Filthy English, his novel Pompey and his fat (yes, not middleweight) collection of journalism Peter Knows What Dick Likes. To be relished, all of them. As for AA Gill, oh for fuck's sake don't encourage him. Will Self wrote a pretty good restaurant column for a while, I thought. Mon Mar 19 18:26:51 -0800 2001 1540911 0 Dougie Milton 11 1540923 Amen to Dougie Milton's message - we need another Jonathan Meades tome dripping with mephitic metaphor run-offs, pyorrhoeaic asides from cashiered warrant officers in dodgy after hours drinking clubs, the full SP, the griff, the lore, the knowledge. Food reviews are all very well but good novels are as rare these days as hen's teeth sauteed on a bed of angel hair pasta costing £150 a poxy plateful at Marco's latest pre-doomed 'venture' (talk about teaching ravens to fly underwater) Yrs SB Wed Mar 21 13:58:33 -0800 2001 1540921 0 Stephen Black 1 1540152 From these posts/responses, it seems that the spread (excuse the pun) between thin and not-so-thin restaurant critics resembles that of chefs... Some are pretty trim - perhaps they exercise like crazy, and perhaps they just have fast metabolism. And others, well, let's just say white doesn't do much for them. Though I suspect the public is more forgiving to a chef who looks like s/he enjoys his/her own creations than to a restaurant critic who looks like s/he enjoys too many chefs' creations. Mon Jan 22 06:32:19 -0800 2001 1540139 0 magnolia