The health/weight gain thing is a real issue. I remember Bruni complaining about it too.
jetf
I cant imagine how much butter this man has indirectly consumed
winkingchef
Lots of mentions of declining health but zero mentions of exercise.
Really buddy?
tosil
> This seemed normal right up until May, when I took two weeks away from my restaurant rounds while I recovered from a hernia repair. The night after the operation I wasn’t hungry. The next night I ate soup. The next day, salad. Without menus and dinner guests and a notebook to fill, I ate just what I wanted and nothing more. I slept through the night. I stayed awake through the day. I took long walks, not all of which ended at bakeries. And at some point in those two weeks, it occurred to me that I am not my job.
That last sentence. Couldn’t be more accurate.
sandover88
Thank heavens. Worst Times critic of my lifetime
AnyBowl8
Yep, his article after he wrote the “Best” series was over pretty much sealed it for me then. Unsurprised, but I will miss him.
fattychalupa
Lol the image for the article – if I was a hospitality worker I’d lose it if I had to treat an Infatuation reporter on the same level as Pete Wells
3axel3loop
I’ve never really considered how unhealthy and negatively impactful being a food critic could be, especially in America I guess. I’m glad he’s putting his health first now. In many ways restaurant culture and food trends have run far away from healthy eating, and this is a good reminder of that.
He did a lot with the power of his platform to shine the spotlight on traditionally underrepresented cuisines, neighborhoods, and restaurants.
michellellelle299
> We talked about the alarming frequency with which men in our line of work seem to die suddenly, before retirement age. A.A. Gill, restaurant critic of the Sunday Times of London, was killed by cancer at 62. Jonathan Gold, critic for the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly, died at 58, right after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Back in 1963, A.J. Liebling of The New Yorker died after checking into a hospital for bronchial pneumonia. He was 59.
> The women I looked up to lasted longer. Gael Greene, who invented Mr. Platt’s job at New York, lived to 88. Mimi Sheraton, critic for Cue, The Village Voice and The New York Times, made it to 97, despite a professed aversion to exercise.
> Christiane Lauterbach, a restaurant critic for Atlanta magazine for more than 40 years, told me she is in good health. She attributes that to “not going to the doctor,” although she was recently talked into having her cholesterol and blood sugar tested. (Both were normal.) “I just take little bites of this and that. I never finish a plate in a restaurant,” she said. “If I finished my plate, I would just be 300 pounds.”
> S. Irene Virbila, who ate out six nights a week for 20 years as restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times, used to bring along a man to finish her plates. She called him Hoover.
scottyjsoutfits
Peter Luger rejoices
Shoddy_Bridge_2672
A legendary position opening up. I wonder who will take his place.
DragonflyValuable128
Maybe they can find someone to hold off on the cheap snark and write a straight review.
Fragdict
So who do I need to sell my soul to in order to become the next food critic? 😃
But seriously, what is the process like for selecting the food critic? Despite the negatives outlined in the article, doing it for a few years sounds like a dream job. Wondering what’s needed to even have a shot.
Tommynyc1
Will miss his writing and wit
Zealousideal-Party81
>When I first came to The Times in 2006, a reporter warned me not to identify myself too heavily with my work. “Any job at The Times is a rented tux,” she said.
>I nodded, but didn’t get the point until this year.
>It’s time to return the tux. I’ve had the trousers let out a few inches, but a tailor can take them in again. As for the stain on the jacket, that’s just pork fat. I think it adds character.
Maybe it’s been a long day but I got emotional reading that part.
sparklingsour
What a loss for us but good for him!
LearningML89
Pete wells is an elitist scumbag that propped up select chefs he happened to like and ignored the problematic behavior of others.
Good riddance
CompetitionOk1582
I hate to think this is also caused by most people getting such info online. And NYT revenue down. I prefer that we continue to have articulate journalism as a layer on top of the masses.
downpourbluey
I hope Eric Kim is the next one.
KanyeDeOuest
Lmao have they considered exercising maybe once? Woe is me, I guess
22 Comments
Hi everybody —
After 12 years as our restaurant critic, Pete Wells is moving on, leaving a job with many rewards — and, as he writes, maybe too many courses.
“I knew I needed to change my life,” he writes, adding: “I’ve decided to bow out as gracefully as my state of technical obesity will allow.”
You can read [~his full column here~](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/dining/pete-wells-steps-down-food-critic.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7k0.iNOT.3ioQdFdd6a4A&smid=re-nytimes) and [~his most memorable pieces here~](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/dining/favorite-reads-by-pete-wells.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7k0.tEAu.3Emiu7A3L_GI&smid=re-nytimes), for free even without a subscription.
Oh wow! End of an era.
**Edit:** Really, really interesting article. Most of the male critics dying at such an early age while the women surpass them.
Very hard to step away from the best job in journalism, but 12 years is a crazy long tenure. Longest ever for the Times it seems: [https://ny.eater.com/2011/9/16/6650353/a-timeline-of-all-new-york-times-restaurant-critics](https://ny.eater.com/2011/9/16/6650353/a-timeline-of-all-new-york-times-restaurant-critics)
The health/weight gain thing is a real issue. I remember Bruni complaining about it too.
I cant imagine how much butter this man has indirectly consumed
Lots of mentions of declining health but zero mentions of exercise.
Really buddy?
> This seemed normal right up until May, when I took two weeks away from my restaurant rounds while I recovered from a hernia repair. The night after the operation I wasn’t hungry. The next night I ate soup. The next day, salad. Without menus and dinner guests and a notebook to fill, I ate just what I wanted and nothing more. I slept through the night. I stayed awake through the day. I took long walks, not all of which ended at bakeries. And at some point in those two weeks, it occurred to me that I am not my job.
That last sentence. Couldn’t be more accurate.
Thank heavens. Worst Times critic of my lifetime
Yep, his article after he wrote the “Best” series was over pretty much sealed it for me then. Unsurprised, but I will miss him.
Lol the image for the article – if I was a hospitality worker I’d lose it if I had to treat an Infatuation reporter on the same level as Pete Wells
I’ve never really considered how unhealthy and negatively impactful being a food critic could be, especially in America I guess. I’m glad he’s putting his health first now. In many ways restaurant culture and food trends have run far away from healthy eating, and this is a good reminder of that.
He did a lot with the power of his platform to shine the spotlight on traditionally underrepresented cuisines, neighborhoods, and restaurants.
> We talked about the alarming frequency with which men in our line of work seem to die suddenly, before retirement age. A.A. Gill, restaurant critic of the Sunday Times of London, was killed by cancer at 62. Jonathan Gold, critic for the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly, died at 58, right after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Back in 1963, A.J. Liebling of The New Yorker died after checking into a hospital for bronchial pneumonia. He was 59.
> The women I looked up to lasted longer. Gael Greene, who invented Mr. Platt’s job at New York, lived to 88. Mimi Sheraton, critic for Cue, The Village Voice and The New York Times, made it to 97, despite a professed aversion to exercise.
> Christiane Lauterbach, a restaurant critic for Atlanta magazine for more than 40 years, told me she is in good health. She attributes that to “not going to the doctor,” although she was recently talked into having her cholesterol and blood sugar tested. (Both were normal.) “I just take little bites of this and that. I never finish a plate in a restaurant,” she said. “If I finished my plate, I would just be 300 pounds.”
> S. Irene Virbila, who ate out six nights a week for 20 years as restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times, used to bring along a man to finish her plates. She called him Hoover.
Peter Luger rejoices
A legendary position opening up. I wonder who will take his place.
Maybe they can find someone to hold off on the cheap snark and write a straight review.
So who do I need to sell my soul to in order to become the next food critic? 😃
But seriously, what is the process like for selecting the food critic? Despite the negatives outlined in the article, doing it for a few years sounds like a dream job. Wondering what’s needed to even have a shot.
Will miss his writing and wit
>When I first came to The Times in 2006, a reporter warned me not to identify myself too heavily with my work. “Any job at The Times is a rented tux,” she said.
>I nodded, but didn’t get the point until this year.
>It’s time to return the tux. I’ve had the trousers let out a few inches, but a tailor can take them in again. As for the stain on the jacket, that’s just pork fat. I think it adds character.
Maybe it’s been a long day but I got emotional reading that part.
What a loss for us but good for him!
Pete wells is an elitist scumbag that propped up select chefs he happened to like and ignored the problematic behavior of others.
Good riddance
I hate to think this is also caused by most people getting such info online. And NYT revenue down. I prefer that we continue to have articulate journalism as a layer on top of the masses.
I hope Eric Kim is the next one.
Lmao have they considered exercising maybe once? Woe is me, I guess