Ruth Reichl's biting food reviews could make or break a restaurant. But she first learned how bad food could be from her mom.
"My mother was such a a scary cook. My first memory is watching her go through the refrigerator scraping the blue stuff (off some food) and say, 'a little mold never hurt anybody,' " said Reichl, 76, now one of the most influential figures in American food culture. "So I started cooking, mostly in self-defense, but then I loved it."
And since her parents went out to eat often, Reichl quickly could discern between good and poor eateries.
"(My parents) sort of just took me along. And because my mom wasn't really a cook, they ate out a lot. My mother was enchanted by restaurants. So I did develop a taste for food then," Reichl said.
Turn Disgust Into Taste Like Ruth Reichl
This young girl afraid of what her mom would serve next turned into one of the most influential food critics in the world.
She's served as restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times and New York Times, editor of Gourmet magazine, host of a PBS food series as well as a memoirist, novelist and cookbook author. She's won six James Beard Foundation Awards, which celebrates champions of food culture.
Growing up in New York City, food ultimately provided emotional resonance for Reichl as well. "My father (a German immigrant) and I would take a walk on Saturdays," she said. "He loved to visit used bookstores and then we would walk to Yorkville where we went into a butcher shop."
Reichl didn't think of her father as German as he didn't speak German at home. But at the butcher shop, "suddenly he's talking to people in German. He has this warm conversation with a butcher, and it hit me that he had gone home through food," she said.
Reichl: Draw Your Inspiration
Her fascination with diverse food drew her to markets around the city.
"We'd go to Chinatown to markets. We'd go up to Spanish Harlem and Little Italy. For me it was a way to see people connect with their other selves," she said.
She started her food journey as a cook.
"I tried (cooking) everything. The great thing about being a young cook is that you're fearless. It was everything. French. Italian. I made my own pasta. I love Chinese food. I'd go down to Chinatown and get recipes," she said.
Soon she turned her mom's struggles into her passion. "The kitchen was my happy place. It's always been, because my mother didn't go there. It was the place I knew I could have privacy. It's the place I felt more at home," Reichl said.
Turn Your Passion Into More
After graduating from the University of Michigan, Reichl and her first husband, artist David Hollis, moved to a loft in New York.
"We had this big loft and friends would come and stay with us, and I would cook these giant meals. One daughter of my friend said, 'You're such a good cook. You should write a cookbook,'" Reichl recalled.
Reichl thought she wasn't "good enough to be a published writer." But growing up around New York's literary circles, she had contacts in publishing.
"I went to my favorite editor and said I have this idea of writing a cookbook. She told me to write a sample chapter and an outline. Two weeks later, she called me and said, 'we'll publish your book,'" Reichl said.
Put Yourself In A Position To Grow
That first book set her on a writing career. Reichl moved to Berkeley, Calif., to pursue literary options — but didn't give up on food, either.
She joined a collective restaurant, Swallow, as co-chef and co-owner. She also did freelance writing for magazines. Most of her articles were about art at first. But one evening, her editor joined her for dinner at Swallow and said, "You know, you're a much better writer than our restaurant critic."
Her uncertainty kicked in. "How am I going to go write restaurant reviews?" she asked the editor. "We'll give you a tryout here," the editor replied. "Write a sample restaurant review, and we'll pay for the meal."
Reichl went to a fancy French restaurant "on their dime." And the editors loved her review, swapping in Reichl as their new reviewer.
Take Your Job To The Next Level Like Reichl
From a small magazine, she went to the LA Times and then the New York Times. Her reviews could make or break restaurants. Reichl was not ruthless. But restaurants feared her pen and palate.
"A waitress told me that every restaurant in New York had a photograph of me in the back with the word 'wanted' written across the bottom," Reichl said. "The owners would pay anyone who spotted me in a restaurant."
At one point, Reichl realized her fame was a barrier to accurate reviews. So she started wearing disguises. At first she just wore wigs. But with the help of an acting coach, she developed a full alter ego.
"By the time I was done, my character, whose name was Molly Hollis, had her own set of clothing, her own credit card in her name, her own jewelry, her own pocketbook," Reichl said.
Reichl would be treated like royalty by restaurants when recognized as the New York Times' food reviewer. But sometimes poorly when she was Hollis, including at the city's famous Le Cirque restaurant.
"So I wrote the review in two takes: what happened to me when I was Molly and they didn't want me (there) and what happened to the restaurant critic of the New York Times," Reichl said. She knocked the restaurant down to three stars from four as a result of the uneven treatment.
Turn Hardship Into A Lesson
Reichl has hung up her big newspaper food review gig — but is still passionate about food. She has since edited Gourmet magazine, written books and hosted a podcast.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, she was struck by how fragile the food system is. She couldn't even buy bread from her local grocery store.
"I went in and there was nothing. There was no chicken, there was no hamburger, there was no cereal. There was no rice," she said.
Reichl, though, saw opportunity. "Maybe this is the moment I've been waiting for my whole life," Reichl said. "Maybe this is the moment when Americans finally start paying attention to food ... and that they should be paying attention to where our food comes from. This could be an incredible thing."
So she teamed up with producers to create a documentary called "Food and Country." The film, which opened in October, explores the nation's fragile fresh food supply. She found smaller farmers relying on restaurants for business routinely struggle financially.
"The film turns out to be mostly about farmers and how really difficult it is to farm in America today," she said.
Look For A Bright Side Like Reichl
Reichl, though, found some good news while creating the film. During the pandemic, some farmers learned how to be more resilient. Increasingly, they are moving into regenerative and organic farming. And there are now organizations around to help them.
She believes the federal government should get involved. But the optimist in Reichl points out Covid-19-related food shortages forever changed the way people pay attention to food. And for the better.
"(The perception of food) had changed dramatically over the last 15 years, but I think the pandemic really changed it," she said.
Ruth Reichl's Keys
- Forerunner in restaurant reviews and chronicler of food culture.
- Overcame: Growing up in a home where cooking was not a priority.
- Lesson: "The kitchen was my happy place. It's always been, because my mother didn't go there."
