"journalist" news and stories

While at one point the awards given out by the Association of Food Journalists (AFJ) to various food writers and food sections only really mattered to their local readers, this is definitely no longer the case. Since most newspapers are online, we can look at food sections from all over the world in a matter of minutes, and the AFJ awards can help point us towards the good ones that we might take a look at in addition to our local papers. The 2006 awards were just released and some of the winners are:

• Best Food Sections (small): Akron Beacon Journal, The Advocate (Baton Rouge), Reno Gazette-Journal
• Best Food Sections (medium): The Oregonian, Baltimore Sun, San Jose Mercury News
• Best Food Sections (large): LA Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle
• Food critics Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly), Tom Sietsema (Washington Post) and Michael Bauer (SF Chronicle) were all honored for their restaurant reviews.

For full details, and to check out the names of all the very worthy other winners, you'll have to take a look at the press release (pdf).

I am a big fan of the SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer's blog, Between Meals, and have mentioned issues that he has brought up before. His post yesterday was particularly interesting though, bringing up the issue of whether food critics should somehow be licensed, after a commenter mentioned that there was a lack of standards in the industry.  Such a task, however, might be nearly impossible. Would "taste" be judged? Writing ability? Tests could be implemented in all industries, but the reality of working is that the best way to get good at something is to do it - over and over again. Writers have to write and chefs have to cook. Critics have to learn how to convey the unique experience of dining at a restaurant to their readers because chefs do not all use identical recipes and there is no one "right" way to make a marinara sauce.

As Bauer rightly points out, "Good chefs rise to the top, and good critics develop a following." A good critic's readers can trust what they write and use their recommendation as a means to decide when to try (or not to try) a restaurant. Of the skills a critic needs - ability, knowledge and passion - only one can be taught or tested, while the others come naturally and over time.

The standards of taste are not hard and fast rules and people look to critics to create a baseline, a jumping off point from which they can form their own judgments. The only hard and fast rules I want to see are the ones that the health department enforces.