Last Updated on August 28, 2023
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how to become a food critic
Want to Get Paid to Eat? Follow These 4 Steps to Become a Food Critic
So you’re a culinary genius, you’re the head chef at your home kitchen and you’re obsessed with all things food. Pursuing a career as a food critic would, then, make a lot of sense! But what exactly does a food critic do, how can you become a food critic and where can you find a job as a food critic?
Let’s look into all of the above.
What does a food critic do?
A food critic — also known as a food writer and a restaurant critic — is someone who gets paid to eat. Yup. We’re not kidding!
A food critic is a writer who analyzes the food at restaurants, cafes and other eateries. They then publish their findings and opinions for outlets that cover food and drink. Sounds like a dream job, doesn’t it?
How do you become a food critic?
Becoming a food critic is simple, though not everyone is cut out for the job! You not only have to have a good taste in food, but you also have to be a great writer in order to publish your findings and opinions about food for readers all over the world.
It’s also not necessarily easy to do your job as a food critic. “Our jobs often mean working days and evenings, rarely seeing family and friends unless we can fit them into our dining schedule,” writes food critic Katharine Shilcutt for the Houston Press. “Our jobs also mean cultivating contacts while trying to stay as under-the-radar as possible. Reporting can be difficult for a critic, because people are so often unexpectedly angry at you for a review or a blog post you wrote, meaning that they’re unwilling to comment for news stories or even softer, more feature-oriented stories. One of the most frustrating things about the job is the eternal misconception that advertisers have anything at all to do with our coverage.”
With that said, here’s how to become a food critic in four simple steps:
1. Get to know other food critics.
Consider who is the most famous food critic — Gael Greene is the top-followed food critic on Twitter right now, according to the Huffington Post list of the most popular food critics on Twitter. Greene is followed by Sam Sifton, Jonathan Gold, Tom Sietsema, Michael Bauer, Jeffrey Steingarten, Adam Platt, Corby Kummer and others.
Check out their work and see how they rate food and their writing techniques. This can be helpful in determining if this is a job for you, as well as in determining how best to do this job!
2. Start a food blog or social media page.
In order to start putting yourself out there and becoming recognized as an expert in the culinary world, you should start a food blog or a social media page dedicated to food! You can start giving your feedback on restaurants and different dishes right there on your own platform. As you grow your audience, you can become your readers’ go-to food critic right there!
3. Get a degree in a writing-related field.
Because food critics work for magazines, online outlets, newspapers and other sources, it’s best to get a degree in a writing-related field like English, Journalism or Communications. While some food critics have Master’s degrees, others simply hold Bachelor’s degrees. Some food critics have also gone to culinary school, as well. This gives them an edge as they know not only how to write but also what to critique in their writing.
That said, you don’t necessarily need a formal education in order to become a food critic. Not all food critics hold degrees. Some just have extensive experience working in restaurants, for example.
4. Apply for a Job.
Apply for work! You can find food critic jobs online on a whole host of job board platforms, like Fairygodboss’ job board!
How much does a food critic make?
You can make good money as a food critic — and earn free meals! Do food critics pay for their meals? The answer is typically yes, but they’ll then usually submit the receipts from their meals get paid back for them.
“Every food critic I know pays for their food at restaurants — me included — and is then reimbursed for their meal by their respective paper… but only if you’re writing about the meal directly,” writes Shilcutt for the Houston Press. “And this may differ at other, larger publications, but many of us spend our own money and time researching and staying abreast of food trends or new restaurants. And this is just one way in which food critics wholly and happily devote ourselves to our jobs.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, writers and authors (including food critics) earn about $61,240 per year on average. And, lucky for you, the projected job growth for 2016 to 2026 is 8% for writers and authors (and 10% for reporters and correspondents), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This means that there are opportunities available given a demand for food critics — and, once you land one of those jobs, you can make a lucrative living.
So there you go! Becoming a food critic takes time and effort — both in the journalism world and in the culinary world. But if you play your cards right, you can be earning free meals and writing about it in no time. It’s a creative job you’ll love.
how to be a food critic blogger
How to Start a Food Critic Blog?
Do you want to start a food critic blog? In this article, you will learn how to start a food critic blog in a matter of few hours. Let’s get started with our food blog!
In this article, we will learn how to start a food critic blog and establish yourself as a professional food critic and blogger.
Affiliate Disclosure: Food Blogging Guide is affiliated with companies, products and services that we review and recommend. We get compensated for our reviews and when you make any purchase using our affiliate link or coupon / code.
What’s Food Critic Business?
Food critic is a person who explores restaurants and eateries, and introduces it to others. Food critics also review food and dining experiences across different places and share their opinion with their audience.
Earlier, food critics were limited to those who worked for the mainstream media. With proliferation of the Internet and blogging, many individuals have turned to professional food bloggers and critics through their blog websites.
Exploring new restaurants and dishes, and sharing them with the public is a popular and rewarding job. If you are a foodie who does not mind exposing his/her taste buds to a wide variety of food and beverages, and love to write or create videos, you can pursue a career as a professional food critic — working full-time or part-time.
Food is a huge industry. If there’s food, there is a potential business for food blogger and food critics. With a huge number of restaurants and eateries, there is plenty of opportunities for food critics. Due to the nature of the industry, food criticism or food review business is very local. You can only start as a professional food critic for the cities you live in or frequently visit.
Step-by-Step: How to Start a Food Critic Blog?
Starting a food critic blog is very similar to being a food blogger. A food critic will review food, and write about recipes. A food critic, however, will not be cooking the food herself ordinarily.
Here’s a quick overview of how to get started with food critic blogging.
- Research your locality: Do you have enough restaurants and eateries to write about.
- Read established food critics: Can you write about food and dining experiences in a manner fit for a professional food critic? Are you good enough to create awesome video reviews of food and restaurants?
- Know the popular chefs: When you intend to become a professional food critic, it is important that you also know about the celebrated chefs globally and also within your work area.
- Train your palate: Can you taste all the ingredients in a dish? You can just write that the food was good. If it was good, how? You need to be able to experience different flavours and ingredients to be able to share it with others in great detail.
- Learn about food & restaurant business: Read about food as much as you can. Get to know the most popular cuisines in your city and read about them in detail. How did a certain dish come into existence? How did an ingredient propagate across the world? What is the origin of a certain wine or beverage?
- Set up your food critic blog: Register a domain name (prefer .com), purchase web hosting from BlueHost (affiliate link) and install WordPress as your website platform. As the process of creating a food critic blog is not very different from a food blog, you must read: how to start a food blog. Also, explore the tutorials on this website for more tips on blogging.
- Customize your blog: Choose a theme/template, create a logo and make your blog look awesome.
- Adding content: Start publishing amazing food reviews, restaurant reviews, articles about food & cuisines. As a beginner food critic & blogger, you will not get invited for reviews. Start by visiting some of the local restaurants for reviews.
- Promote your blog: Once your blog is ready, promote it via social media, food forums and among your friends.
How to Start Writing for Your Food Critic Blog?
Once you have your food critic blog set up, it’s time to add the content — food reviews and restaurant reviews.
Start writing about local cuisine
With your acquired knowledge and understanding of different cuisines, try to write articles about interesting things that you discovered. Eg: The Origin of coffee & It’s Journey to India [Your Country]
Visit local restaurants, food trucks & joints
Make a list of restaurants that you would like to review. Avoid the most popular ones in the beginning. Start exploring even the most obscure restaurants and share your reviews on your blog.
Though a lot of food critics want to remain anonymous for the benefit of being able to get the real experience rather than being served a special “made for food critic” dish, don’t let it stop you from taking pictures and making videos. Try to do so without drawing attention. Nowadays, every other person clicks or shoots the dish they eat at restaurants. So, it’s not going to be a tell-all sign of you being a food reviewer.
Join a restaurant review directory
Sign up for a free profile at Dine.com (US) or the most popular restaurant listing/rating directory for your country. For instance, Zomato.com is the foremost restaurant listing and review directory in India. So, if you happen to be writing about food in India, you can create a profile on Zomato. Start writing about your own experiences of the restaurants you have visited.
Anonymity not critical for food critics
Though being able to experience any restaurant like a regular visitor is the best way of reviewing, it might not be essential. Cooking is an art that one cannot cheat using cookbooks or YouTube tutorials. So, even if the chef knows you as a food critic, she can only cook her best. Your review will still hold merit.
