Restaurant critic's departure reveals potential hazards of the job

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Restaurant critics appear to have the best job in journalism, enjoying meals a few nights a week on someone else’s dime

Restaurant critics appear to have the best job in journalism, enjoying meals a few nights a week on someone else’s dime.

But New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells had painted a more complicated picture. In a recent column, Wells announced he’s leaving the beat because the constant eating has led to obesity and other health problems.

“Intellectually, it was still really stimulating, but my body started to rebel and say, ‘Enough is enough,’” Wells told The Associated Press. “I just had to come face to face with the reality that I can’t metabolize food the way I used to, I can’t metabolize alcohol the way I used to and I just don’t need to eat as much as I did even 10 years ago.”

To write a review, food critics usually make two or three visits to a restaurant and bring a handful of dining companions so they can taste as many dishes as possible. If the restaurant has a special focus on wine or cocktails or desserts, they try those, too.

“You have to sample the full range of the menu,” said Ligaya Figueras, the senior food editor and lead dining critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If I really felt like a salad today, I can’t just have the salad.”

Special features, like lists of the best places to get pizzas or hamburgers, may have critics eating the same fare for weeks. MacKenzie Chung Fegan, a restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, sampled Peking duck all over the city for a story about a restaurant that specialized in the dish.

“There was a two-week period where I was eating more duck than anyone’s doctor would advise,” Fegan said.

All that restaurant eating can take a toll. In